Part of the Gang
by SoI'llKillYou
Summary: Lincoln started acting differently after coming home late one day, and soon his sisters are worried that he's falling in with a crowd of bad kids. They want to save their brother, but does Lincoln even want to be saved?
1. Chapter 1

It was a warm Sunday afternoon at the Loud the normal chaos and confusion of the home, there was a small modicum of peace and quiet in the reconverted linen closet that Lincoln called his room. Lincoln was sitting back on his bed, typing on his laptop. He was in a chatroom, immersed in coversation with his friends.

SoloSon6: and she shaved all the hair off two of Lola's dolls

RedRunner: why?

SoloSon6: because she wanted to give herself pit hair and a mustache

RedRunner:Lol. R U Serious?

CountryBoy11: sounds like my auntie clarabelle

RedRunner: I thought she shaved her moustache

CountryBoy11: it grew back after a week

SoloSon6: no offense but that's gross. and I live with 10 girls. has she tried waxing?

CountryBoy11: she's got laser hair removal scheduled next week

Rusty10Speed has logged on

Rusty10Speed:hey guys

RedRunner: hey Rusty

CountryBoy11: glad U could make it

SoloSon6: what took you so long

Rusty10Speed:my dad wouldn't let me have fun until I finished my homework

RedRunner: hmph...dads

CountryBoy11:well theres nothing stopping you from having fun now

SoloSon6: so why don't we move this to Gus Games and Grub so we can have some real fun

RedRunner: ALRIGHT

CountryBoy11:sounds good to me, Im starved

Rusty10Speed: but I just got here

SoloSon6: c'mon Rusty. Don't you wanna get out of your house for a while? you've been cooped up all weekend

Rusty10Speed: I know, but I just...LAST ONE THERE BUYS THE FIRST ROUND OF GAMES

 _Rusty10Speed has logged out_

Lincoln logged out of the chatroom as well and quickly closed his laptop. Grabbing his shoes, he put them on and tied them before heading out the door. He had to double back when he realized that he forgot his wallet on his bed. Taking a moment, he peeked inside to see what he had for spending money and was glad to see a bunch of ones and fives inside. It would be enough, so long as he wasn't the one stuck paying for the first round.

Tucking his wallet into his pocket, Lincoln turned to leave again so he could try and get there quickly. But he could barely take two steps out of his bedroom before a small, yet surprisingly strong, hand grabbed him by the back of the shirt. The moment he felt the resistance, he internally groaned and turned to see which of his sisters was in need of his attention now. He wasn't at all surprised to find Lola was the one, a sweet and innocent smile on her face. Yup, she definitely wanted something.

"Hey Lola." he said, hoping that whatever she wanted would be quick.

"Hi Linky!" She greeted back. "Do you have a minute? Your favorite little sister would like a manicure."

"Lily wants a manicure?" Lincoln asked quizzically.

The way Lola's smile suddenly fell from her face, only to be replaced by a sour look, told Lincoln he had been mistaken. In hindsight, he should have known that she had been refering to herself in the first place. Hopefully that little slip of the tongue wouldn't come back to bite him. Lola wasn't one to give up leverage once she had gotten ahold of it. The best he could do was try to play it safe and see if he could try to undo any potential damage.

"Kidding!" he said with a nervous smile. "Anyway, I'd love to give you a manicure, Lola. Really, I would. But the guys are waiting for me and I have to get going. Maybe you can ask Lori or Leni?"

He tried to walk away, but Lola kept a firm grip on his shirt. She glared up at him and yanked hard enough to pull him back. Lincoln let out a small cry as he fell onto his butt and cast his own glare at his sister, who gave him a cold and cocky grin.

"I don't think so, mister." she said, a superior tone to her voice. "I wasn't asking for a manicure. I was telling you that I'd like one."

"Lola, you can't force me to give you one." Lincoln said.

"Oh really? And just what makes you think that?" she asked.

"Because...I've got this."

Lincoln pulled out his wallet and opened it again. He took out a pink slip of paper, no larger than the size of a business card, and held it out to Lola. The princess snatched it from him and looked at it, recognizing her own hand writing immediately.

-One Princess Pardon-

This cute little Coupon hereby pardons the user from any one activity desired by Princess Lola Loud at any time on any day.

Coupon is non-transferable and cannot be used on the same day as any other Princess Pardons. Must be redeemed before Jan, 2018.

"Dang it." Lola muttered. "That's the last time I let Lisa help me think up a birthday gift for you. Very well, you are free to go. For now."

Lincoln got up, free of his sister's grasp and made his way down the stairs. As he got to the door and opened it, he found himself nearly running into Lori, who was on her way in.

"Hey!" Lori said, giving him her patented 'Big sister glare'. "Watch where you're going, twerp!"

"Sorry Lori! I was just in a hurry!" Lincoln said in his defense.

"Where do you need to be that's so important?"

"I'm heading to Gus' Games n Grub to meet up with the guys."

"Of course that's what's got you in such a rush. Just make sure that you get home before the streetlights are on. Got it?"

Lincoln offered his oldest sister a salute. "Yes ma'am!"

Lori smiled and retured the salute. Lincoln stepped aside to let her by and then took off, shutting the door beside him. Once he was gone, Lori went over to the couch and sat down beside Leni, who had Lily in her lap, and pulled out her phone. As she began texting, Lola came down as well, nonchalantly leaning on the side of the couch. She was a little peeved that Lincoln had not only managed to get out of doing her a favor, not to mention the other thing too.

"So..." she began, gaining her older sister's attention. "Did you two know that Lincoln's favorite sister is Lily?"

Both of the older girls looked up at the same time. Lola smiled. She knew that Lori wouldn't be any more pleased than she had been to hear that. And Leni might be hurt a little too, considering how she was always so nice to him. That would give Lincoln something to enjoy when he came home later.

"Aww! That's, like, so cute!" Leni gushed.

"I know! And I literally can relate. Lily is my favorite too."

Lola's jaw dropped at Lori's words "Close your mouth " Lori said "Do you want bugs to fly in there?"

Lola shut her mouth and growled like a pit bull as she stormed back upstairs into her room "Lily, Lily, Lily" she angrily grumbled her breath "Everybody just loves Lily,just 'cause she can hardly talk and wears a diaper...How many pageants has she won, huh?"

And with that, Lola slammed the door behind her

Lincoln ran out of the house and into the garage. He grabbed his bike and set out down the street

"Gotta get there's first" he thought as he pedaled as fast as he could "I don't have enough cash for everyone"

Lincoln turned corners sharply and rode around people expertly until he reached Gus Games and skidded to a stop in front of the building.

"Oh yeah' he said cockily "Made it here..."

"Second" said a voice in a thick texas accent

Lincoln looked up to see Liam waiting by the door "Howdy Loudy" he said

Lincoln frowned a bit "Oh well" he said as her locked up his bike around a street sign."I didn't make it here last and that's what counts"

"C'mon" Liam said "Let's wait inside and see who makes it here last"

Lincoln opened the door and went inside, only to smack into something and fall back onto his butt

"What the-" he said as he looked up

A chubby, teenaged girl looked down at him. She wore all black, had brown hair with a purple tint, and wore pink lipstick. But the oddest thing about her was that she appeared to have fangs. She stared at Lincoln before offering a hand down to him

"Sorry about that" she said "Didn't mean to knock you down"

Lincoln took her hand "It's OK" he said as she pulled him up "I should've been watching where I was going"

The girl shrugged as she took out her cellphone and began texting as she walked out of the building

"Huh, why does she look so familiar?" Lincoln quietly asked himself as he went inside. "I'm probably just imagining things."

"What was that?" Liam asked, having thought Lincoln was talking to him.

"Nothing." Lincoln told his friend, starting to look around. "So should we eat while we wait, or would it be better to wait for Clyde and Rusty?"

"I believe that you mean, while we wait for Rusty." came a voice.

Liam and Lincoln turned to find Clyde standing behind them. He grinned triumphantly, glad to know he hadn't made it there last. Lincoln then noticed their remaining friend enter. The taller red head saw the other three and his shoulders sagged, a disappointed look coming to his face.

"Aw, man! Did you guys get here so fast? I'm pretty sure that I live closer!"

"I rode my bike here." Liam said.

"Same." Lincoln added.

"My dads dropped my off." Clyde told them.

"I walked." Rusty said. "No wonder I got here last. Next time I should be more specific. Good thing I've been saving up my allowance. But only twelve tokens for each of you! I need some for myself!"

Lincoln nodded. "That's fair. It's actually more than I expected. Thanks, Rusty!"

"Yeah, buddy! That's mighty generous of ya!" Liam said.

"Dang it! And I guess now that I said it, you guys won't let me take it back. Right?"

"Sorry, but yeah." Clyde said. "But if it helps, I can pay for the pizza. My dads gave me a little extra when they dropped me off."

Rusty brightened up when he heard that. "Done! I think I'll slide a little extra your way since you're paying for the food!"

He went to the nearest token machine and exchanged some old one dollar bills. Then he divided them up between himself and the other three and they all went off to start enjoying their games. Lincoln was caught between trying to play some skeeball to win tickets, or to play one of the other games. In the end, he decided to go with one of his favorites and went to the Dance Battle game over near the arcade's large windows. Thankfully he found that it was available and quickly got over to it before anyone else could.

"Alright, now which song should I choose?" he wondered out loud, scrolling through the selection. "Aha! Can't go wrong with some SMOOCH!"

Lincoln started the song and readied himself for the first steps as they floated up the screen. His legs moved almost instinctively as he began to set his feet down in the rhythm set by the game. He had played this one so often that he knew the pattern by heart, allowing him to focus less on the screen and more on his moves. It was more fun to add a little flair to it, instead of just robotically moving his feet to the appropriate panel when needed.

As he continued to dance, Lincoln began to get the feeling that he was being watched. He tried to ignore it and just kept going until the song was done. Once it ended, he took a look around him and saw plenty of people, but they were all busy playing the other games. No one was even waiting for a turn to play Dance Battle either. He shrugged to himself, chalking it up to being his imagination and returned his attention to the game's screen to select his next song.

After he selected another song, he moved his shoulders to the beat as the arrows began to appear on screen. His feet moved with blinding speed, pressing each pad in sequence

"Good!" said the game

Lincoln grinned as he spun on the tips of his toes, and began robotting. His upper body moved rigidly, while his lower body still moved with wild intensity.

"Great!" said the game "Now faster!"

The music sped up, but Lincoln kept pace with it. His feet moved with near-blinding speed and sweat began pouring down his forehead, soaking his shirt as he exerted himself

"If only Lynn could see me now" Lincoln thought

"Awesome!" said the game "Now switch!"

The arrows on the opposite pad lit up and began to flash brightly. Without missing a beat, Lincoln switched pads and began dancing. A camera built into the machine activated, projecting Lincoln on the screen.

"Outstanding!" said the game

His original pad lit up and he switched back over to it. As the song played, he switched back and forth from the left pad to the right, without missing a single step.

"Amazing!" said the game "You're a dance machine!"

After a minute more, the song ended "High Score!" said the game "Enter your name on the leaderboard"

Lincoln jumped off the platform and headed over to the flashing buttons on the base of the machine to enter in his initials. As he pressed the buttons, someone tapped him on the shoulder

"Uh, Lincoln" said Rusty "That girl you told us about before just showed up"

Lincoln's face brightened "Paige is here?" he said "Oh man, how do I look? Am I too sweaty? How's my turkey tail? Too fluffy? Too spiky? Do you think she'll want to play..."

"Not that girl" Rusty said with an uneasy tone to his voice "The other one. The one who you said keeps glaring at you"

Lincoln's face fell as he gulped down a nervous lump in his throat "Oh man" he said "Where is she?"

"Over at the booth in the corner" Rusty said

Lincoln slowly turned his head in the direction of the corner booth to see a tall, slim girl with pale skin and black hair. She wore a blue shirt and dark blue checkered skirt with a purple jumper wrapped around her waist. Her arms were folded over her chest, her mouth firmly set in a frown and her half lidded eyes were locked directly on him. Lincoln felt a chill run up and down his spine

As she glared at Lincoln, a waitress placed a soda, two slices of pizza and a basket of garlic knots in front of her. She continued to stare at Lincoln for a full ten seconds before she turned to her food and began to eat. Lincoln turned back around

"Maggie" he thought to himself "Great. Just great!"

"What's the matter with her again?" Liam asked. "She an ex-girlfriend of yours?"

"What? No!" Lincoln said, his cheeks flushing cherry red. "I barely know her! But I kinda...maybe almost ruined her birthday a while ago."

"Oh, that's right. Y'all told me about that. So, do ya think that she's still sore with ya over that?"

Lincoln shrugged. "I can't think of any other reason she'd be glaring at me like that. We don't even go to the same school!"

"Well she's been here almost every time we've come here since last week!" Clyde whispered. "So that's at least three separate days she's been here and giving you the evil eye, Lincoln. You sure that you two haven't interacted at all since that day?"

"I'm pretty sure, Clyde." Lincoln said. "She's either holding a grudge over her birthday party, or she just plain doesn't like me. Either way, we should just ignore her. I don't want to give her a reason to come over here. She can glare all she wants, it's annoying, but it's not like it's hurting me or anything."

"Yeah, let's not give her the satisfaction of thinking she's getting to you." Clyde said with a confident nod. "In fact, let's go sit down and eat. She can see for herself that all her staring doesn't bother any of us!"

"Uh, yeah. It doesn't bother me at all." Rusty said with a nervous chuckle.

The four boys went over to the front counter and waited in line to place their orders. Lincoln could still feel Maggie's eyes on him, giving him mild goosebumps. But he just kept his mind occupied by planning out what he'd do after they all ate. There were plenty of games where he could get some tickets. Many of which he was fairly good at winning aforementioned tickets. Maybe he'd see about winning enough for a prize. He'd go to look at the prizes available after his pizza, so he could figure out whether or not he wanted to try and win something and just how many tickets it would require.

Lincoln paid for his food and went over to grab an empty table while the others were still at the counter. He sat down, noticing that he had a great view of the dining area, including the table which Maggie was seated at. Their eyes met briefly and he quickly looked away, as though he noticed something else of interest to him. But he kept looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. She got up, her own eyes still locked on him and for a moment, she seemed like she was about to approach him. However, Clyde came over and took a seat, and Maggie quickly sat down, looking a bit annoyed.

Thanks for the save" Lincoln whispered as he nudged Clyde

"No problem" Clyde said "Happy to help"

The frown on Maggie's face deepened so much, that Lincoln was suprised that her jaw hadn't dropped to the floor. With her shoulders slumped, she slowly made her way out of the a moment to glance back at him before she trudged away sadly. Lincoln sighed a bit

"Finally" he said "She's gone"

Rusty raised an eyebrow "I can't believe you're so happy about that" he said

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" Lincoln asked "She's been glaring at me for days now. It's creepy and I want her to stop!"

"I'm just saying" Rusty went on "You don't know how good you've got it. Do you know how lucky I'd feel if an older woman liked me"

"Like me?" Lincoln repeated "She doesn't like me. She hates me"

"But that's what you said about Ronnie Anne" Rusty said "And she's your girlfriend now"

Lincoln's eyes narrowed "That's different" Lincoln argued "Ronnie Anne actually likes me. Maggie doesn't...And she's not my girlfriend!"

"But didn't your sisters say she was picking on you because she was trying to get your attention?" Rusty asked"And having someone stare at you for three days straight sounds like she's trying to get your attention"

"You're nuts" Lincoln said "She's still mad at me for almost wrecking her birthday party. Wouldn't you guys hold a grudge if that happened to you?"

His friends looked around at each other and mumbled thier agreements to Lincoln "I thought so" he said as he stood up "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some moves to bust"

He walked back over to the Dance Battle machine and inserted his tokens. After he pressed a few buttons, a list of songs flashed on the screen.

"I think I'll go with regular dance mode this time" Lincoln said to himself

He selected his song and stood in the middle of the two pads. The camera on the machine turned on, putting his image on the screen

"DANCE" said the machine

And that's just what Lincoln did. He popped and locked, glided on his feet and fluidly waved his arms back and forth .He smiled widely as he felt the rhythm move thorugh him

"OH yeah" he said as he swiveled his hips "Bring it around town"

Lincoln turned the hip swivel into a full turn, spinning on the tips of his toes. Everything around him became a mutlicolored blur as he picked up speed, but a noticeable dark smudge caught his eye. He looked to see Maggie standing outside the window, glaring at him through the glass.

"What the-" Lincoln said as he stuck his foot down awkwardly, making him lose his balance and fall over

Lincoln rolled over onto the floor and landed in a heap. His friends rushed over to help him stand

"Are you OK, Lincoln" Clyde asked

"I'm fine" Lincoln said as he grabbed the games' railing "It was just alittle spill. But she's still staring at me guys"

"But she left" Liam said

"She's outside" Lincoln said pointing to the window "She's staring at me through the..."

The group looked over to the window, but there was no one on the other side of the clear surface. Lincoln rubbed his eyes

"But..." he said "But she was right outside. Where'd she go?"

"Who knows?" Clyde asked, helping Lincoln back onto his feet. "As long as she isn't bothering you anymore, does it matter?"

"I guess not." Lincoln said. "I just hope that she gets over it soon. It's not really fun to be here if I have to keep worrying about her always being there, giving me that look."

Lincoln felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and checked the new message he had gotten. As he read it, he let out a sigh.

"Dang it. Sorry guys, I have to get going. Lori just told me that my parents are home and that I need to, and I quote, 'get my butt back there before I literally miss curfew'."

Clyde smiled goofily, a dreamy sigh escaping him. "That woman sure has a way with words."

Both Liam and Rusty gave the bespectacled boy an odd look while Lincoln just shook his head, a small smile on his face. He dug his remaining tokens out of his pocket and split them as evenly as he could between his three friends, giving any extras to Rusty since he had been the one to get them in the first place. And luckily, the pizza and drinks that they had ordered had just been brought out, allowing Lincoln the chance to take some home with him. Taking two slices and a pair of paper plates, he made an improvised container for the pizza. One of the teens at the counter was even nice enough to grab a stapler to keep the two plates together so the slices within wouldn't slip out and fall to the ground. With both that and his soda in hand, he started for home.

"Sorry I couldn't stay longer. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow!" Lincoln said as he made way to the exit.

"Later buddy! I'll call you on the walkie when I get home!" Clyde said with a wave.

"See ya!" Rusty threw in.

"Happy trails, Loudy!"

Lincoln exited the arcade and went to the spot where he chained his bike to the street sign. But that's when he noticed that there was a group of kids surrounding his bike. Among them was Maggie, as well as the girl with the tinted hair and fangs. He began to feel a bit worried when he first saw them all, but when they all turned to look at him, he panicked. The group all began heading his way, Maggie giving him the same look she had been giving him before. There was no question about it, he only had one option.

RUN.

Turning on his heels, Lincoln bolted in the opposite direction. He was afraid to look back, part of him terrified that he'd see each and every one of them hot on his tail. But giving into his need to know, he looked anyway and found that they were in fact chasing him now. The plates containing his pizza fell from his hand as did his soda, the cup's lid popping off and spilling the beverage all over the sidewalk. It was probably for the best, it was a bit awkward to be running with them in hand anyway.

After he put some distance between them, or so he hoped, Lincoln found the opportunity to ditch his pursuers when he saw a pair of double doors leading into a coffee shop. The doors opened outwards and he grabbed the nearest one and quickly opened it. But instead of going into the shop, he instead snuck further down the sidewalk and into a nearby alley.

Not daring to look back, Lincoln hid behind a dumpster and crouched down. He sat in silence, his heart racing as the seconds passed by. When he began to feel like the coast was clear, he cautiously peeked out to see. And he was glad to find that nobody was there. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stood back up, relieved that he had gotten away. Maybe if he was lucky, he could get back to Gus' Games n Grub to get on his bike. That way he could avoid being late getting home.

The sound of someone sneezing came from behind him. He turned to the source and saw Maggie just as another sneeze occurred.

"Gesundheit." he said, his eyes widening in shock a moment later. "Dang it!"

Ignoring how it was that Maggie had gotten past him, Lincoln dashed to leave the alley. But just as he got closer, three of her friends stepped out in front of him, cutting him off from the only way out.

"Double dang it!"

The three newcomers closed in on him. Lincoln backed off and was suddenly reminded that he couldn't go that way either as he bumped into Maggie. He felt her hand on his shoulder and he flinched, turning and stumbling back a step. Two of the other three branched off and stood on either side of him, leaving him completely surrounded.

"It's about time we got you alone." Maggie said as she wiped her nose on her sleeve, a tiny smirk coming to her pale face. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Back at the Loud House

The sun had just begun to set and the street had started to go overall chaos and noise of the Loud House had settled to a much more controlled level. Lana came in from outside, covered in grease and sweat, with Lola coming in behind her.

"By the time I'm done, your princess car will be faster than Vanzilla" Lana said

"That's not saying much" Lola said "If you took the wheels off and chained it to the ground it would be faster than Vanzilla"

"Fair point" Lana said with a laugh

"You two wash up" said Rita as she stuck her head out of the kitchen "Dinner will be ready soon"

"OK Mom" the twins said in unison

The twins ran upstairs, just barely missing Lori talking to Bobby on her tablet as she walked by.

"So how has your new school been, Boo Boo Bear?" Lori asked

"Pretty good" Bobby said "I meant all the usual stuuf like science, history and math are boring. But shop class and French class are great. Check out what I made"

He turned his computer over to one side, in the direction of a carved wooden heart with the words "My Cherie Amour" carved into the center. Lori's eys began to well up

"I'm not gonna cry" she said "I told myself I wasn't going to cry"

"Im gonna send it to you" Bobby said "Just as soon as I find a way to fit it in my mailbox"

"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes" Rita called upstairs to her children

"I gotta go Boo Boo Bear" Lori said "I talk to you after dinner"

"I'll be counting the moments, Babe" Bobby said

Lori turned off her tablet, headed downstairs, lay down on the couch and started texting until her mother stuck her head into the living room.

"Lori, can you help me set the table?"

Lori looked up from her phone "Sure" she said as she walked into the kitchen "But doesn't Lincoln usally help you with that?"

"I called for him a few minutes ago" Rita said "But he didn't answer"

Lori checked the time on her phone before looking out the window to see the flickering streetlights. Lori frowned

"That's weird" Lori thought as she and Rita put plates and silverware in front of each empty chair. "He's late. He should've been back by now"

Pulling out her phone, Lori checked to see if maybe she had somehow missed a call or a text from him. But there was nothing from him at all. Just the usual dozen or so texts from Bobby and some of her friends, most of which were Bobby's. She finished helping her mother set the table and then excused herself, stepping into the living room where Lynn, Luna and Lucy were all sitting around and passing time doing their own things.

"Have any of you heard from Lincoln?" Lori asked.

"Nope." Lynn said, tossing her football into the air and catching it. "Haven't seen him since earlier this afternoon."

"Same." Lucy said, shuffling her tarot cards.

"Ditto, dude." Luna added, restringing her guitar. "Why? You trying to get him to give you a pedicure or something?"

"Not it!" Lynn blurted out, touching the tip of her finger to her nose.

"No, nothing like that." Lori said. "It's just that he hasn't come home yet and he never misses curfew without telling one of us that he's running late first. I'm getting worried about him, that's all."

Lori went over to the window and looked out. There was no sign of him anywhere and she began to worry more. She decided that it was best not to take any chances and to try and call him. If he didn't answer, then she'd regretably have to tell her parents that he was late and she had no clue where he was.

But just as she was about to send the call, she spotted someone walking a bike up the sidewalk. And that someone had white hair. Lori set down her phone and stormed out the front door to meet him. As he got closer she took note of the fact that he looked tired, dirty and a bit roughed up. But as far as she could tell, he wasn't hurt. At least not bad enough to earn him any sympathy.

"Where were you?" She demanded of him as he got to the house.

"Nowhere." he said after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh? I thought you were at Gus' Games and Grub." she countered.

"I was. But then I was nowhere."

"Lincoln, it's literally been almost an hour since I texted you to come home. That's a long time to be nowhere"

"Well that's where I was." Lincoln said a little defensively. "Plus one of my bike's tires went flat on the way home. So that slowed me down."

"Then call for a ride!" Lori snapped. "Did you think of that before you went past your curfew?"

"My phone's battery died. I need to head up and plug it in. After I put my bike in the garage."

"I'll take your bike." Lori said. "Just hurry up and go inside. Dinner is almost ready."

Lincoln passed his bike off to his sister and went into the house. He headed upstairs and went into his room, shutting his door behind him and sitting on his bed. A tired sigh escaped him and he pulled out his phone, seeing a new text.

Maggie: Change of plans, you'll be meeting us again right after school tomorrow. Can you make it?

Lincoln sighed again, starting to reply to the text.

Lincoln: Yeah, sure. I can make that work.

Maggie: Not gonna lie, I'm still surprised that you decided to join us.

Lincoln: Well it's not like I had much of a choice. You guys were terrible.

Maggie Yeah, sorry for giving you such a rough time, I guess. But hey, at least you're one of us now. Welcome to the gang.

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	2. Chapter 2

Lincoln woke up with aches all over his body. He still felt tired, despite the fact he had gotten plenty of sleep that night. But the sound of his alarm buzzing over and over sadly meant that he had to get out of bed. It was a school day and the sooner he was out of bed, the easier it would be to get ready. Hopefully a quick shower would help soothe the soreness.

With a stretch and a yawn, he got up and grabbed his clothes for the day. Next he grabbed his loofa and opened his bedroom door. Unsurprisingly he found a line for the bathroom already, but it was fortunately short. Only Lynn and Luan were waiting for their turns and they were already dressed. So at least he wouldn't need to worry about waiting too long for his turn.

"Morning Linc." Lynn greeted as she saw him step into line behind her. "Looks like you had a rough night's sleep."

"No, I slept fine. I just wish I didn't have to get out of bed today. That's all." He said.

"I hear ya, little bro. School, am I right?" Lynn said, nudging his arm with her elbow. "Anyway, I'm heading to the park after school to practice my pitching. Dad doesn't want me doing it in the backyard anymore since he says he's tired of paying to fix the windows. Wanna come and be my catcher?"

Lincoln stifled another yawn. "Sorry, Lynn. But I'm going to pass on that. I already have plans after school."

Lynn scoffed. "Like what? Sitting on your butt in front of the t.v. or playing your lame computer games with your friends?"

"No, I'm supposed to meet up with...uh, a friend after school today."

His hesitation caught Lynn's attention. She smirked and gave him a knowing look, leaning towards him a little.

"Ooh, a friend? Do you mean...a _girl_ -friend?"

"Yea...I mean, no. I'm meeting up with Clyde. We're going to walk around to a couple of our favorite stores and browse for a little bit."

The smile fell from Lynn's face. "Bor-ring!" she said, turning back to face the bathroom. "If you change your mind and want to do something fun for once, let me know, okay?"

The siblings waited for a few more minutes before they heard a flush. The door swung open and Lucy stepped out. She looked up at her older siblings for a moment

"Sorry I took so long" Lucy said "And for the record, I don't think I'll try another one of your spicy subs, Lynn"

Lynn grinned and patted her stomach "Not everybody can take the heat" she boasted "But don't worry, you'll learn to love them once I've toughened you up"

Lucy shrugged "Bathrooms' all yours" she said as she walked past them

Luan, Lynn and Lincoln eyed the door warily "Uh...you can go ahead of me if you want" Luan said

The tomboy shook her head wildly "No way" she said "I was here second, so you go in first"

"Oh no" Luan said "I insist you take your turn before me"

Lynn shook her head again "No way,Jose" Lynn said "The bathroom smells like death after she uses it"

Luan laughed at Lynn's joke "I get it" she said "But seriously, I'm not going in there so soon"

"Well if neither of you two want to use the bathroom next' Lincoln cut in "I will"

Lincoln strode past his sisters, went into the bathroom, and shut the door behind him. Lynn and Luan stared at the door as they heard the shower come on.

"How can he stand it in there?" Lynn wondered

"You give him Dutch ovens all the time" Luan said "Maybe his nose is just used to it by now"

"Are you kidding" Lynn asked "My farts could peel paint off the wall but Lucy's are in a league of their own. I share a room with her so trust me on this one."

Lana stuck her head out of her room at the mention of farts "Did you stink up the bathroom?" she asked as Lucy walked by

"Afraid so" Lucy said

Lana grinned and held up her hand for a high five "Nice one sis" she said

Lucy smirked and high fived her younger sibling

After a few more minutes, Lincoln came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his head and waist, and a clothespin firmly fastened on his nose.

"Where'd you get that?" Luan asked

"I keep some in a space behind a loose floor tile" Lincoln said nasally "Along with some earplugs for when Luna is singing in the shower"

Lincoln walked past his sisters and into his room where he began to change into his clothes. As he got dressed, he heard a faint noise

Vrr-mmm Vrr-mmm Vrr-mmm

His cell phone was vibrating. "Who would be texting me this early" he thought

He checked his phone to see a text from Maggie

Maggie: Morning newbie.

Lincoln texted her back

Lincoln: Hey Maggie. What's up

Maggie: Since you don't go to school with the rest of us I just wanted to make sure you know we're meeting at my house today

Lincoln: I remember. And I'll be there

Setting his phone back down, he quickly finished dressing and gathered his school stuff. He felt a little nervous about the planned meeting with Maggie and the others. Mostly because he barely knew any of them and that just meant he still felt anxious despite now being part of the gang.

But a part of it had been the...painful way that things had started off the preceding day. The memory of it was enough to make him shudder. He'd need to be careful when he met up with them today. A repeat of that unpleasantness was definitely not anything he wanted or needed.

He headed downstairs to eat breakfast, sending Clyde a text to see if he'd like to meet up and walk to school together like they did normally. The sound of his phone vibrating again caught his attention while he poured milk into his Zombie Bran cereal, nearly spilling it onto the table. He read the reply from his best friend, shoveling a spoonful of the food into his mouth and chewing it thoroughly. A few minutes later his mother brought Lily in and set her into her high-chair. The baby waved at her brother and giggled as a bowl of mashed bananas was set down in front of her.

"Nanana!" She chirped happily, grabbing her spoon and beginning to feed herself.

Lincoln smiled at her cute behavior. He watched as she messily ate a bite and some of it dribbled out the corner of her mouth. Then she repeated the action, adding to the food that was already on her face. Lincoln grabbed a napkin and reached over to clean her up, much to her disliking.

"Sorry, Lily." he said. "But if you kept your bananas in your mouth, then I wouldn't need to wipe them off of your face."

Lily blew a raspberry at him in response. Lincoln blew one back. This made Lily giggle and then she blew another raspberry, which Lincoln again returned. The two went back and forth, sticking out their tongues at each other with little drops of spit flying through the air. Some of which flew in Lori's direction as she entered the room.

"Ew! Lincoln! Grow up! That's disgusting!" she said, shielding herself from the flying saliva.

Lincoln smiled sheepishly up at his older sister. "Sorry, Lori. Here, let me give you a napkin."

He grabbed another napkin to hold out to Lori. She reached for it, but then stopped suddenly. Her hand moved forward again, but instead of taking the napkin, it took hold of his hand and pulled his arm up. She looked at a mark on the underside of his forearm. Or to be more specific, the long scab that was under his forearm.

"That's a nasty looking scrape." she commented. "How did you get this?"

"Uhhhh...my bike! My tire went flat yesterday, remember? I fell off of it when that happened and scraped my arm a little. Yup, that's how I got this!"

He forced a large smile, his eyes holding a trace of nervousness. Lori narrowed her eyes at him questioningly. Luckily for him, he found an excuse to change the subject as his phone vibrated again.

"I gotta get that. It's Clyde." he explained, pulling his arm free to grab his phone.

"Oh, tell him I say 'hi'."

"Sure." Lincoln said, entering the new message.

Lincoln: Lori says Hi.

He sent the message and then after about ten seconds of waiting, Clyde's reply came.

Clyde: **L-L-Lori?! ERROR! ERROR! Sytems shutting down...**

Lincoln put his phone back in his pocket, noisily slurped down the last of the milk and bits of cereal in his bowl, and tossed the dish in the he sped into the living room and grabbed his backpack. Lori stuck her head out of the kitchen

"Whoa whoa whoa" she said "Where are you going?"

"To school" Lincoln said flatly "Where else would I be going on a Monday morning?"

"What's the rush to get out the door?" Lori asked as swung the keys to Vanzilla on her finger "I can give you a ride with everyone else,you know"

"That's OK" Lincoln said "I'm gonna walk to school with Clyde today"

"Are you sure?" Lori said "It's a long way there and even early you might not..."

"Uh...sorry" Lincoln interrupted as he reached for the doorknob "Can't hear you...you're breaking up"

Lori cocked an eyebrow "We're not talking on cell phone!" she said hotly

Lincoln opened the door and flung himself outside "Bye" he said "See you after school"

School went by quickly for Lincoln and his four younger sisters. Before they knew it, the day was over and they were all waiting for thier ride home. Lucy,Lana, Lola, and Lisa all stood outside the school

"What a day" Lisa said "So much happening all at once. Talk about tiring"

Lana snorted "You're in kindergarden" she said "Your day was nothing but snacks, games, and nap time"

"I know" Lisa said "So much tedium for my intellect. It was all I could do to feign interest and keep myself conscious"

Vanzilla approached the school, sputtering and backfiring all the stuck her head out the window to shout at her siblings

"Hurry up" Lori said "Mom and Dad won't let me watch TV until my homework is done, and there's no way I'm missing the Dream Boat. Karen's date with Bronson is tonight"

"I keep telling you dude" Luna said from the backseat "Bronson has no chance. Music is the way to a woman's heart so Brock has got this all sewn up"

The older Louds began to chat about thier show as the younger Louds filed into Vanzilla like soldiers.

"Hang on" Lori said as she looked around "Where's Lincoln"

Lucy shrugged

"Beats me" Lana said

"I dunno where he is" Lola said her arms folded over her chest "Maybe you should ask his favorite sister!"

Leni looked down at Lily's carseat "Do you know where Lincoln is?" she asked

Lily pulled her pacifier out of her mouth "Inkin ga gooby mooby moo"

Leni shook her head "She said she doesn't know" Leni said

"I haven't seen him since lunch" Lisa said

"He's probably hanging out with Clyde" Lynn said

"This morning he said they were going to browse at some of thier favorite stores" Luan piped up

"Fine then" Lori said as she stepped on the gas

Vanzilla moved for a few feet before shutting down, making all ten of the Loud sisters groan in slapped the steering wheel in anger

"We'll just give it a minute" Lori said

She turned her head to look out the window while she waited, and saw Clyde walking down the street.

Alone.

"Funny, I don't see Lincoln anywhere." Lori noted. "Hey Cly...actually nevermind. If I ask him, he'll just pass out. One of you talk to him."

"I'm on it." Lynn said, rolling down the window next to her and sticking her head out. "Yo, Clydesdale!"

The sudden, loud sound of a voice startled the boy. His head turned back and forth, looking for the source until he spotted Vanzilla. He waved at Lynn and walked closer to speak at her without needing to raise his voice.

"Hi Lynn. What's up?"

"Not much. Hey, I thought Lincoln was supposed to be hanging out with you. Where is he?"

Clyde looked confused. "Are you sure about that? Because I have an appointment in a little bit with Dr. Lopez. So I know I didn't make any plans with Lincoln today."

"Oh...so, you don't know where he is?"

"Nope, sorry." Clyde said. "But if I see him, I'll let him know you were looking for him!"

He started to walk away, waving again as he left. Lynn sat back down in her seat and turned to face her older sister in the front seat.

"So Clyde said..."

"I heard him." Lori cut in, sounding displeased. "And I don't like it. Are the two of you sure that he said he'd be hanging out with Clyde today?"

Lynn nodded. "Positive."

"Yup, I was right next to them when he said it."

"And yet Clyde didn't seem to know about it at all." Lori stated, pulling out her phone. "I'm sending him a text and he'd better respond right away, if he knows what's good for him!"

Lori drummed her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel while she waited for her brother to text her back. As the seconds became minutes, she began to feel fed up with waiting and tried to call him instead. He didn't pick up, only serving to aggravate her more.

"Okay, fine then. You want to be that way, Lincoln? Just wait until Mom and Dad find out about this." She mumbled angrily to herself.

Setting her phone back into her purse, Lori tried to start Vanzilla again and thankfully the old mechanical beast roared back to life. She stepped on the gas and began to drive them home, leaving the rest of her sisters talking about just what Lincoln was doing.

"He didn't get detention did he?" Luan asked. "That would explain why he can't answer the phone."

"Nah dude, Linc almost never gets detention." Luna said. "Besides, he would have let us know before he had to go, so we wouldn't be stuck waiting."

"I still don't get why he lied to me about hanging out with Clyde." Lynn grumbled. "Kinda makes me feel like he was trying to avoid going out to help me practice."

"I just hope that he's okay." Leni said.

"I'm sure that he's fine Leni." Lori told her, a slightly worried look coming to her face afterwards. "He'd better be." She whispered to herself.

The Loud Sisters made their way home without thier they got home, they scattered in different directions. Lori started on her homework while Leni buried her nose in a fashion magazine. Luna and Luan went up to their room. Lynn had set up a hockey goal outside, while the younger Louds played inside downstairs.

Thirty minutes passed, which soon became an hour. But after a second hour passed, a blue van drove up near the curb at the end of the street. A door opened, and Lincoln stepped out, a thick bruise developing on his eye. Maggie frowned at Lincoln as he struggled to open it.

"You know, that shiner looks pretty good on you" Maggie said

"Yeah yeah" Lincoln said as he cracked his knuckles "But if you're not careful, you might be the one getting it next time."

Maggie smirked at the young boy "Don't get snippy with me, half-pint" she said "Put some ice on it. I'll see you tomorrow"

Lincoln watched as Maggie shut the door and her mother drove away. He shook his head and sighed

"What have I gotten myself into?" Lincoln said to himself

He made his way down the street and up to his house. As he appraoched, he looked over to see Lynn shooting pucks into her goal.

"Slapshot!" Lynn shouted happily "Goal!"

Lincoln grimaced and backed away "Better not let my sisters see this" he thoght as he covered his eye with his hand

With all the skill and finesse of a cat burglar, Lincoln quietly crept into the backyard and came in through the back searched through the freezer. pulled a bag of frozen carrots out from behind a tub of vanilla ice cream, and slapped it over his eye. He gave a shuddering sigh of relief

"Lincoln" said a voice from behind him

Lincoln jumped in surprise and turned to see Leni standing by the blender "I'm making a smoothie" she said "Can you pass me the bag of frozen mixed berries"

"Sure" Lincoln said as he turned back to the freezer, took out the bag of berries and handed them to his sister "Here you go"

"Thanks Lincoln" Leni said as she poured them into the blender "Why do you have that bag of frozen carrots on your eye?"

"Uh...well" Lincoln struggled to come up with answer that would keep him from revealing his injury "Because...because carrots are really good for your way I can get the nutrients straight through my eyes"

"What a smart idea" Leni said "Beta-carotene helps make Vitamin A and it's really good for your eyes, not to mention your skin. I should try that myself"

Leni walked over to the freezer and began searching for another bag of frozen carrots while Lincoln quietly snuck away. Shortly after he left the room, Lori entered, seeking a light snack. Her eyebrow perked up as she took notice of Leni holding a bag of frozen carrot slices against her eyes. The sight would have actually amused her if it didn't give her reason to be concerned.

"Leni? What happened to your eyes?"

"Huh? Oh, hi Lori! Nothing happened to my eyes. This is just a neat idea to help your eyes that Linky just showed me."

"Lincoln's home?" Lori asked, her expression hardening. "When did you see him?"

"He was just here...wait..." Leni removed the bag from her face, her own expression similar to Lori's. "We were looking for him, weren't we?"

Lori nodded and she turned to leave the kitchen with Leni following close behind. The two blondes went up to their brother's bedroom door and Lori kicked it open. Lincoln jumped in surprise at the sudden intrusion, dropping the bag of frozen carrots and exposing his injured eye. Lori immediately saw it and her expression softened as she began to grow concerned agin.

"Lincoln, your eye looks terrible! Did somebody do that to you?!" she demanded.

"Uhh, no! I got this when I...fell off of my bike on the way home from school!"

"Oh, really?" Lori asked incdredulously. "I find that hard to believe since you _walked_ to school this morning! Your bike has been in the garage all day, still with a flat tire."

Lincoln smiled nervously. "Did I say my bike? Silly me, I was riding with Clyde on his Dads' tandem bike!"

Lori frowned and stepped closer to him, forcing him to back up against his wall. She leaned forward a little bit and gave him a solid glare, her hands on her hips. Leni stepped forward as well, staning in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"Stop lying to us, Lincoln. We saw Clyde when we were at your school and he said he had no idea where you were."

Lincoln gulped audibly, a bead of sweat running down his face. "Oh, that's because I was with...Rusty! Yeah, he and I were, uh...we were...I gotta pee!"

Ducking down, Lincoln scrambled between his sisters legs and then squeezed past Leni. He ran straight down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door as soon as he got there. Lori and Leni left his room, Lori looking a bit smug.

"Not his best idea. All he did was shut himself in a different room. We'll still be waiting for him right by the door."

"But Lori, I don't have to go to the bathroom." Leni said.

"That's okay, something tells me neither does he." Lori told her.

"I would have to agree, eldest sister." came Lisa's voice, the brilliant girl stepping out of her room. "It is highly unlikely that our brother would need to urinate at this time of day, as it falls well out of his normal bathroom habits."

Lori and Leni gave their little sister an odd look. Lisa simply held up a file with their brother's name on it in her defense.

"The facts don't lie. Feel free to check for yourselves."

"Hard pass." Lori said, starting to walk to the bathroom. "Come on Leni, we need to be ready in case he tries to bail on us again."

Lori stormed over to the bathroom door, dragging Leni along by her wrist.

"Lori, stop" Leni said "Lincoln's in the bathroom. Shouldn't we give him some privacy?"

"He's not really using the bathroom" Lori said with a roll of her eyes "He's trying to avoid us"

Lori grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open to see a half naked Lincoln stepping into the bathtub. Lincoln's face turned red, either from anger, embarassment, or a combination of the two.

"Do you mind!?" Lincoln shouted "I'm about to take a shower here"

"Sorry" Lori said "My bad"

Lori shut the door embarassedly, turning to see a disapproving stare from Leni as the shower started from behind the door.

"Basic bathroom etiquette, Lori" Leni said "Knock before entering"

Lori gave a groan of frustration as she walked over to Luan and Luna's room and pounded on the door. Luan, dressed in her mime attire, opened the door and pressed a finger to Lori's lips. She pointed at Luna who was napping on her bunk, her fingers tracing over her guitars strings as she slept.

"Wake her up" Lori said "We need to confront Lincoln"

Luan cocked her head to the side inquisitively and raised an eyebrow.

"He came home with a black eye today" Lori said

Luna snapped awake at Lori's words "He what!?" she asked as she struck a chord on her strings

"And he refuses to tell how he got it" Lori went on "But we're gonna get him to spill it one way or another"

Luna got out of her bed and went into the hall with Luan following close four eldest Loud sisters waited outside the bathroom door for ten minutes until the shower stopped.

Lincoln stepped out of the shower, soaking wet, and wrapped himself in a towel. Then he searched through his discarded clothes, pulled out his cell phone and started typing a text message

"Here goes nothing" he thought.

Lincoln: Hey Bobby, just wanted to let you know that Lori has been kinda lonely lately. Bet she'd love to hear from you.

Bobby: Oh dang it! I haven't texted her since yesterday! Thanks, bro. I owe you one!

Lincoln: Anytime, bro.

A few seconds later and excited gasp could be heard from Lori just outside of the bathroom. Lincoln smirked to himself as this was followed by the sound of her bedroom door shutting suddenly. That was one down. Just Leni left and he'd be in the clear.

"Thanks for letting me use the shower first, Leni. It's all yours!" he said, opening the bathroom door and casually strolling out.

"No problem!" Leni chirped, heading into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. "I'm such a nice big sister." she added to herself as she went to get the hot water running.

Lincoln's smirk grew, that was two down...two to go? He stopped as she found himself confronted by Luna and Luan, who blocked him from going any further. He began to try to think his way out of this new predicament and quickly took note of Luan's current attire. He could work with that.

"Excuse me, ladies. I need to be going to my room. Need some clean clothes."

Neither of his sisters budged. Lincoln sighed, at least it couldn't be said that he hadn't tried to be polite. Now he'd just have to go through with his plan. He began miming that he was swinging a lasso over his head. Then he threw the invisible lasso over Luan, who reacted as he pulled it taut. She started to mime struggling and he mimed pulling her forward.

"What the?" Luna asked as she saw Luan start to slowly slide forward.

Lincoln kept pulling Luan closer and then let go of the rope. Luan immediately began miming taking the lasso off of her, but Lincoln quickly pantomimed walls around her, trapping her inside of a box. Luan only smiled and shook her head at his attempt. She reached forward and took hold of an invisible doorknob. But Lincoln was one step ahead of her and he locked the invisible door with an invisible key, which he then threw over his shoulder. After which be began nailing invisible boards over the entrance. Luan's eyes went wide and she struggled to open the door that wasnt' there, but could not. In the end she only slowly clapped as Lincoln walked away,victorious.

"You can't be serious." Luna said, narrowing her eyes at Luna.

Luan only offered a shrug in her defense. She couldn't help it if Lincoln had out-mimed her. It was out of her hands, which meant it was up to Luna now. The rocker just sighed and went to catch up to their brother, grabbing him by the shoulder just as he was almost at his door.

"Gonna need to stop you right there, little bro. You aren't going anywhere until you tell me where you got the shiner."

"It's nothing, really." Lincoln said.

"Well it looks like something to me, dude. Now spill. You can trust your big sis."

"But can you trust me?" he countered. "If I ask you to just believe me when I say that this is nothing, would you?"

Luna hesitated. He was giving her that look. It wasn't puppy dog eyes, but it was almost as effective. And she couldn't help but want to give in to that adorable face.

"Okay, fine. But I had better not see anything like this again. Okay?"

"You don't have to worry about it. This was just a one time thing. A total accident. I swear."

Lincoln held up his hand to emphasize his point. Luna ruffled his white locks and then went to head downstairs and check out what was on t.v. Lincoln, finally free of his sisters interferece, went to his room and opened the door.

"Hey! Lincoln, you tricked me!"

"Dang it." he muttered to himself.

Leni, with a bathrobe on and a towel around her wet hair, stormed out of the bathroom, past the trapped Luan and over to her brother. She looked down at him completely displeased.

"I wasn't waiting to use the shower, I was waiting to talk to you, Lincoln!" She said. "And I want to know who hurt you, now!"

"Alright, I'll tell you. But could I please just get dressed first? I'm starting to get a little cold."

Leni nodded. She wasn't too happy with him at the moment, but that didn't mean that she'd keep him from putting some clothes on. And once he was dressed again, she'd make sure to get him to answer her. Nothing was going to change that. Not even...

"Dad?" Leni asked in confusion as Lincoln's door opened again.

Lincoln resisted the urge to laugh. His plan was working just as well as he expected. Instead of his normal orange shirt and pants, he had instead pulled together a disguise using some of his father's clothes, including a wig to complete the look.

"There you are Leni." he said, doing his best impression of their father. "I've been looking for you. What's this I'm hearing about your grades slipping at school?"

Leni looked suddenly ashamed. "I...I've been trying my best. Honest."

"Well, have you been keeping up with your homework?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." she replied with a nod.

"Including today's assignments?"

"Um, no. Not yet."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you went and got to work on them right now. I expect to see them before dinner tonight, okay?"

"Okay Dad!" Leni said. "Don't worry, I'll totes make sure to get them all done!"

Leni then turned and went straight towards her room, set on getting her homework done. Luan's jaw dropped at the display she had just witnessed from her non-existant prison. Then the mime slapped her forehead as Lincoln triumphantly closed the door to his room to get changed back into his normal clothes.

"That was close" Lincoln thought

Lincoln picked the, now partly defrosted, bag of carrots up off the floor and pressed it against his bruised eye. Then he made his way over to his laptop computer,turned it on and signed into his favorite chatroom

 _SoloSon6 has logged on_

SoloSon6: Hey Clyde

RedRunner: Hey Lincoln. I didn't see you after school, I thought we were gonna walk home together?

SoloSon6: Sorry. I had something come up that I needed to do fast

RedRunner:It's ok. After all I had a chance to talk to Dr Lopez' about my abandoment issues

 _SeldomlySmiles13 wants to join your conversation_

Lincoln hovered his cursor over the newly appeared screenname for a moment before turning back to Clyde

SoloSon6: Clyde, can I ask you something

RedRunner: Can it wait? I need to take a minute to go walk my cats

Lincoln gave a relived sigh

SoloSon6: Never mind then

RedRunner: I'll be back in half an hour

 _RedRunner has logged out_

Lincoln clicked the new screenname that appeared on his list

SeldomlySmiles13 has joined the conversation

SoloSon6: Hi Maggie

SeldomlySmiles13: Hello Lincoln

 **Hmm, I wonder what Lincoln is up to?**  
 **And so do his sisters.**  
 **Plz Review and makes sure to send some love over to Twisteddarkness225**


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3)

It was 6:00 in the evening and the sun was beginning to set, covering everything in an eerie dimness. A blue van drove up to a curb at the end of Franklin street and Lincoln stepped out of it. His face and arms were dotted with scrapes, his shirt was dirty and one of his pant legs were torn. He lifted an arm, gave a small sniff and recoiled in disgust.

"Aw Man." Lincoln said "I reek."

"Did I say I was sorry about that?" Maggie said.

Lincoln shrugged. "You along with everyone else." he said. "It's no big deal. I already called my parents to tell them I'd be running late, I can just tell them can just tell my parents I ran into some trash cans on the way home."

Maggie's frown deepened. "Technically you were _thrown_ into the trash cans" she said

"To-may-to, To-mah-to" Lincoln said. "Bottom line, I made contact with trash cans. They don't need to know the specifics."

Maggie sighed heavily. "Scrapes and bruises." she said. "A black eye, and now this. I'm starting to have second thoughts about you joining up."

Lincoln shrugged. "I've already gotten comfortable with you guys." he said. "Getting a little roughed up isn't gonna change my mind."

The corners of Maggie's mouth twitched a bit, moving upwards just long enough for a smile to be visible for a single second before moving back into her trademark frown. "If you're sure about it, then..." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small silver disk on a thin chain. "...I want you to have this"

Lincoln held the chain up to his face, staring at it curiously. On it was a silver pendant that was decorated with a blue, sad-faced emoji. He looked over at Maggie.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"It's our sign." Maggie said reaching down the front of her shirt and pulling out an identical pendant on a chain. "We all wear one. And since you're one of us now, so do you."

Lincoln smiled at it before putting it around his neck and tucking the pendant inside his shirt. Maggie's mouth did that familiar twitch before becoming a frown once again. She reached out for the car door handle.

"Get some rest." Maggie said. "We've got something special planned tomorrow."

And with that she shut the door to the van. He waved as Maggie and her mom left before he turned to head down the street to his house. As he got closer, he saw Lynn out in the driveway, near the garage. She was dribbling her basketball and running away from the garage where the hoop was set up. The sound of her voice providing her own commentary reached Lincoln's ears and she shook his head. He honestly wondered if there was any sport she played when she didn't do that.

Lynn turned to face the basket and took a moment to figure out her shot. The ball flew from her hands and through the air, hitting the rim of the basket. It bounced back up in the air, just a little, but then fell down right through the net. Lynn cheered, pumping her fists into the air as she let self-praise flow freely from her mouth.

"And she makes a three-pointer with only two seconds left on the clock! The crowd is going _WILD_! The Royal Woods Rabbits win the championship!"

Lynn mimicked the sound of a roaring crowd of fans. She spotted Lincoln while doing so and turned to face him, taking immediate notice of his current appearance.

"What happened to you, little bro? You look like you lost a fight." she commented, her eyes suddenly narrowing. "Are you being picked on?"

"No." Lincoln said quickly. "I was just in a hurry to get home and I fell into some trash."

The athlete's serious expression turned into a smirk. "Seriously?" she asked, resisting the urge to laugh. "How the heck did you manage that one, Linc?"

"My shoelace was untied and I found out the hard way." he said, continuing to head towards the front door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really should head inside to get cleaned up."

"Okay, have fun explaining to Mom and Dad why you're so late. They might not accept your excuse. Y'know, because it _stinks_." Lynn said, chuckling.

"Please don't. We have enough puns in the house between Luan and Dad." he said with a small groan.

"Whatever, but you should hurry up before dinner gets cold. Most of us already finished eating."

"Dang it! Am I really that late?"

Lynn shrugged. "Maybe. I dunno. Dad made dinner early today. But still, you did take off without letting anyone know. Mom and Dad weren't happy with that. ~You might be in trouble.~" She singsonged teasingly, spinning her basketball on her finger. "~Linky might get grounded.~"

Lincoln groaned again. He was not in the mood for his sister's teasing. Even if it wasn't the worst he ever had to put up with, it was still too much for him after the day he had. He was sore, tired, and in desperate need of a shower. Not to mention hungry. Lynn's nonsense was not going to go ignored like usual.

"Lynn." he said, glancing at her over his shoulder. "Do me a favor and just shut up for once? Thanks."

He saw his sister's jaw drop, the ball also dropping as she lost her focus. Satisfied, Lincoln went into the house, leaving her out on the driveway, trying to process what just happened. She picked up her ball and went to follow her brother inside, muttering to herself.

"I don't know where that came from, Lincoln, but you are SO getting a dutch over for it."

Lincoln slung his backpack off his shoulders and onto the floor. He craned his neck around, the joints popping loudly as they moved. He moved his shoulders up and down, which popped and cracked just as loudly. Lynn raised an eyebrow at the sounds her brother was making.

"What's going on?" Lynn asked "Why are your muscles so tense?"

"I think I might've pulled something in gym class." he said. "But I can sleep it off after dinner."

Lincoln walked into the dining room with a spring in his step. "I'm home everybody."

Lori, Lucy, Lola, Lana and Luna were still at the table, picking at thier servings of turkeyloaf with disinterest. His parents looked over at him in surprise.

"Lincoln, are you alright?" Rita said as she rushed over to her son. "You're a mess!"

"I know, I know." Lincoln said. "I tripped and fell over into some garbage cans. I'm a klutz."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Rita asked.

"I'm OK." Lincoln said with a smile. "Kinda smelly and kinda hungry, but I'm OK."

"Well, wash up then." Lynn Sr said pointing to the sink. "I'll put your plate in the microwave"

Lincoln went over to the sink as his father reheated his dinner. As Lincoln began to wash his hands, Lori came over and put her dishes in the sink. Lincoln looked up at Lori, her eyes scanning him like a hawk.

"What's up, Lori?" he asked.

"You usually don't come home so late." Lori said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"It's OK though." Lincoln said. "I made sure to call mom and dad to let them know I'd be late tonight."

"Uh-huh." Lori said as she narrowed her eyes at him. "And... where were you exactly?

Lincoln shrugged. "Nowhere."

The microwaved beeped loudly to signal his dinner was ready. Lincoln walked over to the machine and removed his plate, only for Lori to step in front of him.

"Nowhere?" she repeated. "That's the second time you've been nowhere this week."

"I know, right?" Lincoln said "I've been so busy lately."

Lori frowned at him as Lincoln walked over to the table. "Is it OK if I eat dinner in my room tonight?" he asked.

"I don't see why not." Lynn Sr said.

"Just make sure you don't leave your dirty dishes in your room." Rita added.

"Thanks." Lincoln said as he headed to his room.

As he made his way up the stairs, he felt a hand tightly grip his shoulder. He looked back to see the a look of annoyance on Lori's face. He put on his best look of confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked

"What's wrong is that you keep dodging my questions." Lori said hotly. "Why won't you tell me where you were tonight?"

Lincoln shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno." he said. "Maybe I think it's none of your business."

Lori's face went red at Lincoln's sudden attitude. She clenched her teeth tightly, the sight of which made Lincoln nervous. He sighed in defeat.

"OK, OK." he said. "I was hanging out with Rusty. He let me ride his new bike around the block and I lost track of time."

Lori let go of Lincoln's shoulder as her face returned to it's normal color. "Now was that so hard?" she asked.

Lincoln shrugged and made his way further up the stairs, further away from Lori. "Rusty?" said a deadpan voice from behind her. "That can't be right."

Lori turned back to look at her creepy younger sister. "I saw Rocky after school today." Lucy said. "He walked home with Rusty and Lincoln wasn't anywhere around."

Lori turned back to see Lincoln, who by now had reached the top of the stairs. "Oh did I say Rusty?" he said. "I meant Liam. They both have red hair and buck teeth so I get them mixed up sometimes."

Nervous beads of sweat gathered on Lincoln's forehead as Lori's face began to go red again. "First, you're dodging my questions." she said. "And now you're just flat out lying to me? Lincoln what is going on with..."

"Uh...sorry" Lincoln said "I can't hear you...you're breaking up..."

"WE ARE NOT TALKING ON CELL PHONE!" Lori shouted at her brother.

But the only reply she got was the sound of the door to Lincoln's room slamming shut. Lori glared at the piece of wood that now separated her from her younger brother, but then she heard Lily begin to cry and she stepped to the side to check on her. Lucy followed her, remaining silent until after Lori had picked up their baby sister.

"Is something going on with Lincoln?" she asked.

"I literally have no idea." Lori said, taking a moment to hush Lily. "But I'm finding out whether he likes it or not. Just as soon as I calm Lily down. What's the matter Lily? Do you want your blankie?"

Lori looked around for Lily's little, purple blankie. But she couldn't spot it anywhere. Lucy began to help her and they still didn't find it. Meanwhile, Lily only continued to fuss and whine in Lori's arms. The search soon covered the entirety of the room and Lori and Lucy had to move on to look elsewhere in the house. As they left Lily's room, the sound of her crying caught the attention of Leni and Luna who were on their way up the stairs.

"What's wrong with the Lilster? She got a diaper rash again?" Luna asked.

"No, I don't think so." Lori said. "I think she just wants her blankie. Any idea where it is?"

Luna shrugged. "Search me."

Leni grabbed Luna's arm and lifted it up over the girl's head and looked at her side. Then she stepped behind Luna and patted her back from the base of her neck down to her waist. Luna turned around and gave her older sister a questioning glance.

"What are you doing?"

"Searching you. You said to do it."

"No Leni, it's just an expression." Lori explained. "Here, why don't you take Lily downstairs and see if you can find her blankie in the living room? I need to have a little chat with our brother."

"Why?" Leni asked, taking Lily from her older sister.

"Because he came home late again and now he's lying to me when I ask what he's been doing. Just ask Lucy. She helped me catch him in a lie."

Luna and Leni looked at their spooky little sister. Lucy gave a short nod to confirm that Lori wasn't mistaken and the two teens looked towards their brother's room. Leni furrowed her brow and then held Lily out to Luna, who took her unquestioningly.

"Well if you're going to talk to him, then I'm joining you. He tricked me yesterday and, like, that's the same as lying,right? So I need to talk to him too."

Lori didn't object to it and together the blondes approached their brother's room. Lori pounded on the door, calling out for their brother. After a moment, Lincoln opened the door and looked up at his sister a bit irritably.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to eat my dinner."

"Oh I mind alright." Lori said. "Me and Leni both mind that you've lied to us and I want to know why!"

"I didn't lie to Leni about anything." Lincoln said.

"Uh, yeah you did. Don't think that dressing up like Dad yesterday doesn't count as lying!" Leni returned. "Because you did it to trick me so you could get of of talking to me yesterday! You said that you would, but you never did!"

"Well...maybe I don't want to talk! Did you think of that?"

"Whether or not you want to talk isn't the point, Lincoln." Lori said. "We're your big sisters and you should listen to us."

"NO!" Lincoln spat angrily. "I'm not a baby anymore, Lori! I'm old enough to be able to make my own decisions without you breathing down my back! I don't need to tell you about every time I need to blow my nose! So just let me live my own life and stop being such a PAIN IN THE BUTT!"

Lincoln slammed his bedroom door again, leaving his sisters gawking with their mouths hanging open. Even Lily's mouth was agape in awe of her big brother's attitude. Lori was the most shocked, as well as a little hurt. For the second time that day, she was staring at her brother's bedroom door after it had been shut in her face. And just like before, she became angry with it, a vein throbbing on her forehead as she got ready to tear the door open and give her little brother what he had coming to him.

But just as Lori reached for the doorknob, someone grabbed her wrist. Lori found Luna standing beside her, still holding Lily in her other arm.

"Hold on a sec, sis." Luna said. "I'll talk to him. If you go in there all fire and fury, it won't get him to tell you anything."

"So what do you propose we do?" Lori asked.

"For starters, you can take this..." Luna said handing Lily to Lori. "...and you can go calm down. Just leave it to me, sis. I'll talk to to him. You just Take it Easy"

"But I.." Lori began to protest.

"C'mon Lor." Luna went on. "Being mad at him isn't gonna make him wanna talk to you more. Let me handle it."

Lori groaned and shook her head. "Fine then." she said. "C'mon Lily, lets go find your blankie."

The eldest Loud sibling carried the youngest one away, leaving Luna with Lucy and Leni. She looked at them both.

"I'm gonna need you guys to am-scray too." Luna said.

"You need us to am-scray?" Leni said. "Oh, I thought you were gonna ask us to leave."

Luna rolled her eyes at Leni's literal minded nature. "I should handle this by myself." she said "So if you guys could..."

"Sounds good to me." Lucy said pulling out her book of poems and beginning to write. "That last outburst of his left me with some very strong emotions I need to express."

"I'm worried about Lincoln." Leni said with a nervous look on her face "But I don't wanna get yelled at again. So bye bye bye."

Luna's jaw lowered a bit as Leni turned to leave. "Hey!" she shouted after Leni. "Song lyrics are my thing!"

"There's a song called "I don't wanna get yelled at again?" Leni asked

Luna shook her head in annoyance "Never mind" she said

Luna watched her sisters retreat into her rooms before turning back to Lincoln's door and knocking softly.

"Linc." she said. "It's just me, you know. Lori's not out here. Open up so we can talk for a bit."

There was no answer. Luna frowned and knocked harder.

"C'mon little bro." she said. "I wanna talk to you."

There was still no answer from the other side of the door. Luna bit down on her lower lip in irritation for a moment until an idea struck her.

"Hey Lincoln." Luna said. "If you don't want me to come in just say so."

Once again, there was no sound from inside Lincoln's room. Luna smiled deviously.

"Your silence says it all." Luna said as she grabbed the doorknob.

Luna opened the door to see Lincoln sitting in front of his dresser. His plate on his lap and his earphones plugged into his laptop. He moved his head from side to side as he ate. Luna slowly crept up behind him and peeked over his shoulder to look at his computer screen. He was on the MyTunes website and was listening to a song from a long playlist. Luna looked at the bands on list curiously. She was expecting to see SMOOCH, but couldn't find it among the several bands on the list.

"Basic Scheme." Luna read. "Purple Night, Bad Charlene, My Synthetic Passion? Since when does he listen to this stuff?"

Lincoln shoveled the last bit of turkeyloaf into his mouth as he took his earphones out. Luna spoke as soon as they were out of his ears.

"What's happening brother?" she said.

Lincoln jumped in surprise, making his plate fall off his lap and clatter to the floor. He turned to face his sister, a brief look of confusion on his face when he had found that it was Luna who had been the one to startle him for a change. Luna offered him an apologetic smile, feeling a little bad for giving him the scare.

"Sorry little dude. Wasn't trying to sneak up on ya, honest."

"That's okay." Lincoln said, retrieving his plate from the floor. "But it was a pretty good impression of Lucy. I had no idea that you were even in the room until just now."

"Can't be helped. It's something that happens when you get lost in your tunes. Speaking of which, since when were you into this kind of music?"

Lincoln's eyes flashed to his laptop's screen and then back to his sister. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, it is a bit different than what I usually listen to. But a friend recommended these bands and I figured, why not? If she likes them, then why wouldn't I?"

"Too true, little bro...wait. Did you say 'she'? " Luna asked, a wide grin breaking out on her face. "So, a lady friend of yours is getting you into this genre, eh?"

"I know where you're going with this and I'm going to have to stop you right there." Lincoln said flatly. "She's just a friend who has similar interests as me. Nothing more."

"If you say so. Anyway, I just wanted to check on you. You kinda flipped your lid on us and I was worried. Is everything okay?"

Lincoln sighed and he sat up a little, looking Luna in the eyes. "If you really want to know, it's just been a bit of a rough week so far. To put it simply, school sucks sometimes."

Luna knelt down and put her hand on his shoulder. "Trust me, Linc, I get ya. But having a bad day isn't a reason to push away family. You were right, Lori can be a major pain in the butt, but she's only like that because she cares. Snapping at her isn't gonna fix anything that's bothering ya."

"I know. But I only got mad because she wouldn't stop bugging me about it. I can solve my own problems. And if I need any help, I know I can ask you guys." Lincoln said, placing his hand on top of Luna's. "I promise."

"I know, bro. But it makes a huge difference to hear you say it." Luna replied, kissing his forehead. "I'll be getting out of your hair now. Enjoy your tunes and give Lori a quick apology after you've had enough time to unwind. 'Kay?"

Lincoln nodded and put his headphones back on. Luna took his plate and left the room. She went down into the kitchen to put it into the sink. Lori entered, having followed her after she saw Luna passing by.

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

"He's gonna be fine, sis." Luna said. "He just needs a little time to himself. Nothing to worry about. You just gotta let it be."

"Fine. But he better not pull any more of that attitude he gave me again. I won't let him get away with it twice."

"Relax. Since when has our little bro been the type to be like that?"

Meanwhile, back up in Lincoln's room, the white haired boy saw a new message had been sent to him via Skope. He clicked on the icon and a window opened up, the new message catching his attention immediately.

Nottagoth:Thanks a lot for the nosebleed, jerk.

Lincoln frowned. Luckily the sender, one of Maggie's friends, happened to be online so he could send a reply.

SoloSon6: I'm sorry, okay? It was an accident!

Nottagoth: You tripped me!

Soloson6: You were coming at me! I was trying to get out of the way! I just didn't move fast enough, the rest was unintentional! It's not like I made you land on your face!

Nottagoth: Whatever. We'll just call it even for the shiner I gave you.

Soloson6: Fine with me. And if you want, tomorrow you and I can do some one on one practice.

Nottagoth: Only if you don't whine if you get hurt again.

SeldomlySmiles13 has joined the conversation.

SeldomlySmiles13: Hey.

Nottagoth: Hey Mags.

Soloson6: Hi Maggie. What's up?

SeldomlySmiles13: Nothing interesting. But I have something I want to give you. Can you meet me after school tomorrow? Before we go to meet up with everyone else?

Nottagoth: Taking your new boyfriend out on a date?

Soloson6: I'm not her boyfriend!

SeldomlySmiles13: Shut it Dennis. He's not my boyfriend.

Nottagoth: Could've fooled me. You've been treating him nice enough. Having your mom drive him home, giving him stuff and kissing his boo-boos for him.

SeldomlySmiles13: Jealous?

Soloson6: For the record, she's never 'kissed' my 'boo-boos'. She just helps me clean any cuts and scrapes I get.

Nottagoth: No stinkin duh. I'm teasing you, man. But for what it's worth, you know how to take a hit.

Soloson6: I get pulled into fights with my sisters all the time. You get the hang of it after a while. Anyway, what is it that you want to give me, Maggie?

SeldomlySmiles13: You'll see.

Soloson6: Can I have a hint?

SeldomlySmiles13: Nope.

Nottagoth: Hey, I g2g. Dinner. L8r lovebirds.

Nottagoth has left the conversation.

SeldomlySmiles13: Do me a favor and trip him again tomorrow.

Soloson6: If you insist. LOL. JK. I should probably be signing off too. Homework.

SeldomlySmiles13: Ugh. IKR? Teacher's are such slavedrivers. Enjoy kiddie school while you can. Middle school is worse.

Soloson6: No promises.

SeldomlySmiles13: L8r Lincoln.

SeldomlySmiles13 has left the conversation.

-The next day at the Royal Woods Mall-

Lincoln looked around nervously as Maggie ushered him inside the store called Cold Subject. It was like walking into a dark closet the where the only illumination was from blue light bulbs. Unhappy looking tweens driftend between the shelves and racks, some looking and others buying. Shirts and pants were on several racks around him, racks that Maggie pulled clothes from and then piled on top of Lincoln.

"A makeover?" Lincoln said. "You brought me here to give me a makeover?"

"That's right" Maggie said. "If you're gonna be seen with us then, you should look like us."

"Oh really?" Lincoln said. "So you don't want me around unless I fit your mold? So you're ashamed of me now? Is that it?"

Maggie's frown deepened. "I didn't say that!" she said as her voice took on an unusally whiny tone. "It's just...well...you don't exactly look like one of my friends so this way we can all look the same."

Lincoln lowered his head. "That sounds a lot like being ashamed."

Maggie began trembling with frustration. "I'm not ashamed!" she said in that same whiny tone. "I just want you to look...I mean...I thought that you would fit in better if..."

"Maggie." Lincoln said flatly. "I'm just teasing you."

Grinding her teeth at the smug look on his face, Maggie grabbed Lincoln's hand, dragged him over to a changing booth and shoved him inside. "Just hurry and change already." she said with a huff.

Lincoln changed into a new set of clothes and stepped out of the booth several times. And each time Maggie gave her opinion on his outfit.

"Too tight."

"Too loose."

"Too many stripes."

"Too many studs."

"Not enough studs."

"Not dark enough."

Lincoln shuffled around inside the booth as Maggie threw more clothes over the side of the booth. As she did so, a cheerful looking woman in purple came into the store.

"Ready to go sweetie?" she asked.

"Almost mom." Maggie said holding up a small pile of shirts. "We're getting these."

Her mother removed a credit card from her purse. "Thanks again for this, mom" Maggie said. "I can't have this kid looking too cheery around us."

"Oh you know I can't resist a sale." Maggie's mother said with a giggle. "But I just can't believe you're buying clothes for this boy." she said. "That just seems so...well..."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "Seems so what?" Maggie asked. "What are you getting at, mom?"

"Oh nothing." she said. "I'm just surprised. I didn't think you'd buy clothes for just anyone. Maybe someone special..."

Maggie blushed. "Mom, please don't start." she said. "He's only eleven!"

"You were twelve just a few months ago." she said. "And your father is three years older than I am so...I'm just saying..."

Maggie stared at her mother in disbelief just before a terrible sneeze flew from her nose. "C'mon mom." she said as she wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Not here."

Maggie snorted thickly as her nose ran. She muffled another sneeze with the crook of her elbow as her mother pulled a tissue from her purse and handed it to her.

"Bless you, dear." she said as she patted Maggie's shoulder. "Don't use your sleeve, please. And there's no need to get so anxious, it's just a thought."

Maggie wiped her nose as Lincoln came out of the booth. "What do you think about this?" he asked

Maggie looked him up and down, and her mouth moved into a half smile "I think you're leaving the store with that outfit on." she said.

-Back at the Loud House-

Lori paced the floor, one hand clutching her phone and the other clenched into a fist. She held her phone up and checked the screen again, finding nothing new. A soft growl escaped her as she kept walking back and forth in the kithchen while Leni and Luna were standing by the counter and blending a smoothie to share.

"Dudette, you gotta chill." Luna said. "Linc gave his word that he'd let us know if something was up. Let our little bro do his own thing."

"He's late again!" Lori spat in return. "No call or texts! He wasn't anywhere at his school and we waited twenty minutes for him to show up! I don't care what he says, Luna! This is not gonna stand! He can't worry us like this!"

"But you're the only one of us who's worried." Leni said. "Luna's right. You have to calm down. Come on, join us for a smoothie. It's got chocolate!"

Lori took a deep breath. "You're right. I can literally go for a smoothie about now. I'll deal with Lincoln when he finally gets home. He just better hope that it's before Mom and Dad get back from their Tango lessons. Because if I get in trouble for not knowing where he is, I'll literally make him regret it."

She joined her younger sisters as Leni poured the blended beverage into three cups. As they enjoyed the concoction, Lola entered and approached them. She tugged on Leni's arm, gaininer her sister's attention.

"Leni, could you hand me the box of cookies from the cupboard?" she asked.

"Like, okay." Leni said.

"Uh, like, no!" Lori said. "You aren't going to have that many cookies before dinner."

"They're not just for me! Lucy and I are having a tea party." Lola explained.

"Lucy does tea parties?" Luna queried. "Never pegged her for the type."

"Well that just shows what you know." Lola said snobbily. "Lucy happens to be an excellent guest. She knows almost as much as I do about tea party ettiquette. Almost. Now, the cookies, if you would do me the kindness, Leni."

Leni complied and handed a box of snickerdoodles to her little sister. Lola greedily snatched them from the older girl and turned to leave, a complacent smirk on her face. She went out into the living room where a little table had been set up for her, Lucy, her many stuffed animals and...Lucy's...guest.

"Sorry for the delay." Lola said, taking her seat beside her spooky sibling. "But good help is just so hard to find these days."

"That's fine." Lucy said. "Edwin and I were just talking about your selection for today's party. Earl Grey is surprisingly good with O positive blood."

"So glad that he approves." Lola said with a faux smile. "It is a strange concept to me, but it is refreshing to have someone with such...unique tastes at my party. So, have you any new gossip to share?"

"Nothing new, I'm sorry to say." Lucy admitted, refilling her cup with fresh tea.

"You?"

"Well I did just happen to hear our dear sisters talking about Lincoln's behavior lately. Lori is all flustered about how he's running late, again! You would think he were up to something!"

A faint smile came to Lucy's face. "Not likely. Our brother isn't the type to get away with anything without someone in this house finding out. He's not nearly as sneaky as he thinks. Whatever he's doing, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

The sound of the front door opening caught their attention. Lucy turned to glance at it as it opened, the sound of Lincoln's voice reaching her ears as he announced he was home.

"See? There he is now." she said.

She took a sip of her tea, only to spit it out immediately afterwards into Lola's face. The goth's jaw dropped as she gawked at her older brother in pure shock.

"Gasp! Lincoln?"

 **Please review**  
 **And don't forget to send some love over to Twisteddarkness225**


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4)

Lucy rubbed her eyes. She had to be seeing things. Her imagination was just playing tricks on her. That was all. She didn't just she her older brother walk into the house, not dressed like _that_.

"Lincoln, just what do you think you're wearing?" Lola asked.

"Oh no." Lucy mumbled. It looks like she did see what she thought she had seen. "This can't be happening."

But to her great dislike, it was happening. Her brother was dressed in all black. His normal orange polo was now a black T-shirt with blue letters that read "Real Men Cry". A pair of equally dark skinny jeans with tears at the knees and a chain dangling from two of the belt loops on one side was in place of his normal set of bluejeans. On his right wrist he had a studded leather wristband and around his neck was the sad emoji necklace he had gotten from Maggie. And in his hands were some bags from Cold Subject.

"Groan." Lucy said. "This is a nightmare. And not the fun kind."

"What are you going on about? I thought you'd like seeing him like this. Now he's just like you."

Lucy gave Lola a cold stare. "I'm goth, not emo. There's a difference!"

"Whatever. Either way it's tacky. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and freshen up. _Somebody_ got tea all over my face and dress."

The princess got up to leave and Lincoln went to head up the stairs. But then Lori entered, scowling and glaring in his direction. For a moment, she was stunned by the drastic change in his appearance and she was hesitant to do anything. She could only stare at the boy as her mind absorbed the new sight.

"Lincoln? What...what are you wearing?" she asked.

"Clothes. Why? What should I be wearing?" he snarkily replied.

Lori's face flushed as she heard his answer. She recalled her anger from just before he got home and stormed over to him. He paid her no mind and simply went to continue up the stairs, but she grabbed him by the wrist.

"Hold it right there, little brother!" She snipped. "You owe me an explanation. For the clothes and for why you're home late, _again_ "

"Well I'm trying a new look. And maybe I was late because I was out, getting my new clothes. Now, do you mind? I would like to go up to my room."

"Oh, okay. That's fine. But care to tell us were you got the money for all of this?" She queried, gesturing to the outfit and the bags in his hands.

"I saved up a little money and used it to buy new clothes. Duh." he said, pulling his arm free.

A shrill sounding wolf whistle came from the kitchen, drawing their attention. "Nice duds, bro!" Luna said as she walked out. "You're rocking those skinny jeans and wristbands!"

Lincoln smiled as Lucy's jaw dropped "How could you say that?" Lucy asked "Just look at him. He's...he's..."

"An emo kid?" Luna finished for her. "So what? I've got some emo friends. It's not a big deal."

Lucy stood up and stormed up the stairs. As she passed her brother he could just barely hear her mumble under her breath. "Sigh. They just don't get it."

Leni came out of the kitchen and looked over at Lincoln in his new clothes. She gasped as she ran up to him.

"Oh Lincoln!" she said "All this black was such a bold move for you. You better start using a new conditioner because this gonna draw so much attention to your hair!"

"So does this mean you like my new clothes?" Lincoln asked.

"Of course it does!" Leni said. "Although...I do wish you'd have chosen a pair of relaxed fit jeans. With those skinny jeans on I'm chafing just looking at you."

Lincoln shrugged. "I'll just put some lotion on after I shower tomorrow." he said as he went further up the stairs.

"Make sure you use the cocoa butter lotion." Leni said. "Remember, the aloe lotion is to use when chafing happens. But the cocoa butter stops chafing _before_ it happens."

"Thanks for the reminder." Lincoln said as he reached the second floor.

"Inkin." said a young sounding voice as he felt a tug on his pant leg.

Lincoln looked down to see Lily looking up, a wide smile on her face "Up?" she said as she reached upwards to him. "Up?"

Lincoln smiled as he picked up his youngest sister. "So Lily," Lincoln said "How do you like my new clothes?"

Lily giggled and squealed with joy, clapping her hands together. "Glad you approve" he said.

He carried Lily back into her room and set her down into her crib, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Lisa was sitting at her desk, scribbling frantically into a notebook.

"Hey Lisa." Lincoln said "Notice anything different about me today?"

"Yes, yes" Lisa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's a very nice haircut elder brother."

Lincoln rolled his eyes as he left their room. He walked down the hall to his room, only to find Lori standing in front of his door, her arms folded and her eyes focused on him.

"I think you and I need to talk" Lori said.

"Sure. Maybe later on?" he said, trying to sneak past her. "Now doesn't really work for me."

Lori spread her arms to cut off any chance he could get around her and to his door.

"No. We're talking now. And the sooner you tell me what I want to know, the sooner you get to go to your room."

"What was ...that? I...can't hear you...you're breaking up."

"Oh, no. We are NOT doing that again!" Lori spat through clenched teeth. "I want answers young man and I want them now!"

"Young man?" Lincoln repeated, giving her a look. "Last time I checked your name was Lori not Rita."

Lori narrowed her eyes angrily. "Don't sass me, Lincoln! I am not in the mood! Now, answer me! Where have you been going everyday?"

Lincoln scratched his chin for a moment. "Hmm...nowhere." he said innocently."

"Well if that's how you want to be, then I guess you don't want to go into your room."

"You can't keep me out of my room!" Lincoln said defensively.

"Oh, yes I can. And I will, little brother. Until you start talking."

Lincoln clenched his fists. "Get out of my way, Lori!" he growled.

Lori leaned forward a little, smiling cockily at him. " I'd like to see you try and make me."

Lori stared Lincoln down, expecting him to fold and tell her what she wanted to know any moment. But instead of folding, his mouth twisted into an angry grimace. Lori cocked an eyebrow at the look on his face, stepping back as he began to tremble in anger. Glaring angrily at Lori, he pressed his fist into his palm, cracked his knuckles loudly, and said

"Be careful what you wish for."

A moment later, a surprised shriek sounded throughout the house. This was followed quickly by the sound of a slamming door and a cry from Lori for the others to come into the upstairs hallway. The other nine girls all rushed to the scene and found a sight they would never have expected.

Lori was down on her knees...with her underpants stretched up and over the back of her head. The others all gaped silently at the sight before them. But then Lynn burst out laughing and pointing at Lori, followed by Lana. Leni rushed over and helped Lori back up onto her feet.

"Omigosh! Lori, what happened to you?"

"Lincoln happened to me. " Lori said in a strained voice "I tried to make him tell me why he's been coming home so late. But...I don't think he's in a very talkative mood."

"He...he gave you an atomic wedgie!" Lana snorted. "That is awesome!"

"No...no it isn't." Lori calmly said, glaring at her younger sister.

"How the heck did he get the drop on you?" Luna asked. "You're nearly twice as tall as he is, dude!"

"If you must know, he kicked me in my shin. Hard. I fell on the floor and the next thing I knew, this happened." Lori explained, pointing to her undies. "We need to have an Emergency Sibling Meeting in my room...NOW!"

"Um, like, shouldn't you wait to pull your underwear off your head first?" Leni asked.

"I've been trying" Lori said. "A little help...would be appreciated."

As his sisters went to gather in Lori and Leni's room, Lincoln lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his hand clutching his heart. Breathing rapidly, he rolled over onto the floor and reached under his mattress to pull out one of brown paper bags he kept there for Clyde. He began to breath into the bag, inflating and deflating it until his breathing slowed down.

"I can't..." Lincoln said to himself. "Believe...I did that!"

The memory of that moment was fresh in his mind. Delivering a kick to her shin with all the strength he could manage. Watching her crumple to the floor in pain before seizing the opportunity to pull her underwear over her head. A longtime fantasy of his had finally come to fruition.

And he was terrified!

Any minute Lori would burst through the door and deliver retribution so harsh and cruel he would never recover from it. It was only a matter of time.

Lincoln sat in the silence of his room for five minutes, which became ten,but nothing happened. He pressed his ear up to his door and listened, but he didn't hear anything outside. He slowly opened his door, but he didn't see a soul. A smile slowly spread across his face as he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Maggie.

Maggie: Hey newbie. How's your family taking your new look?

He shut the door to his room again and started to text a reply.

Lincoln: Some of my sisters like it. But some of them don't.

Maggie: They'll get used to it.

Lincoln: Maybe, if I'm still alive in the next few days.

Maggie: What's wrong?

Lincoln: I kinda gave my big sister an atomic wedgie. And if I know her she's not gonna take it lying down.

Maggie: Why'd you do it?

Lincoln: She wouldn't let me go into my room unless I told her what I've been doing these past few days.

Maggie: Did you tell her?

Lincoln: Of course not.

Maggie: Good. She had no right to pry into our business. Plus she had no right to keep you from going into your own room. You shouldn't feel bad about it.

Lincoln smirked a bit as he texted his reply

Lincoln: Who said I felt bad about it?

-Meanwhile, in Lori's room-

The ten Loud sisters sat in Lori's room, waiting anxiously as Luna and Luan struggled to get Lori's underwear off her head.

"These things are really on here." Luna said.

"Let me see if I can get my fingers under the waistband." Luan said.

Luan moved her fingers in, only to get a screech of pain from Lor.i "Stop that!" she shouted. "You're pulling my hair!"

"I'm just trying to help you get the underwear off." Luan said. "No need to be so _crotchety._ "

She burst into laughter as her sisters groaned. "Get it?" she asked.

"Wow, good one, Luan" Lori said with sarcasm soaked words. "We should share that one with Mom and Dad."

Luan suddenly looked nervous. "Uh...I dunno" she said. "I don't think they'd think it's so funny so...got it"

Luan lifted the elastic off Lori's head an pulled it back. After Lori spent about a minute stuffing her undies back into her shorts, she turned to her siblings.

"Alright" Lori said. "Now that that's over with, our Emergency Sibling Meetgin will begin. The first order of business...what the heck is wrong with Lincoln?!"

"Don't get me started." Lucy said, bitterness in her voice. "I could go on for hours about how disappointed I am with him right now."

"Why?" Lynn asked. "Because he's ripping off your look?"

"Yeah, Lucy." Lori added. "I thought you'd like that he's gone goth. Now he's like you."

"That's what I told her." Lola chimed in.

Lucy grumbled. "Okay, listen up all of you. I'll only say this once. I'm Goth...Lincoln has gone Emo."

"So?" Lana asked. "What's the difference?"

"There are _plenty_ of differences." Lucy said coldly.

Lisa scoffed. "Oh, please. The subcultures you speak of are so similar that any existing differences are utterly unremarkable in comparison. It's akin to garnishing a dinner plate with a sprig of parsley compared to a sprig of cilantro. A small change for an overall similar appearance."

Lucy said nothing. She could only gawk in silent shock at her brilliant, little sister. The thought of trying to explain came to her mind, but she dismissed it since she felt it would be pointless. It may have been a bit much to expect them to understand.

"Actually..." Luan said. "I know some goth kids and some emo kids at school. They may wear lots of black and white, but that doesn't make them as gray as they seem."

"Wow, Luan." Lola said. "Not your best joke."

"Well maybe that's because I was being serious." Luan replied. "I'm just saying that they aren't the same thing."

"Like, she's right you know." Leni piped up. "Goths are known for a clothing style marked by conspicuously dark, mysterious, and antiquated coverings with homogeneous features. Their pale complexions allow both male and female Goths to wear dark eyeliners and dark fingernail polishes which contrast in an appealing manner. And their styles are often borrowed from the punk fashion, as well as Victorian and Elizabethan fashions. Now Emos..."

Leni began to ramble on, gaining the attention of all of her sisters. Lori drew most of them away, leaving only Lily and Lucy left listening to the platinum blonde. Leading them over to the other side of the room, Lori returned their meeting to the issue at hand.

"So. Lincoln. What should we do about him?"

"I said it before and I'll say it again, dude." Luna said. "We just need to back off and let Linc be Linc."

"But he _isn't_ being himself! He's dressing like a weirdo! He's acting out! HE GAVE ME A WEDGIE!"

Lola, Lana and Lynn all snickered, getting the evil eye from Lori in exchange. Luna waited for Lori to look back at her, crossing her arms and giving Lori a mildly annoyed look.

"First of all, sis, lay off his new look. I like it and since I did something just like it, I can relate. Just give it some time and it'll grow on ya. Second, he's only been acting out because someone's been harshing on him so much. If anything, you only got yourself to blame for that wedgie. You may have been asking for it."

"But..."

"No, dude. No buts. Give our bro some space and soon you'll see that the new him isn't anything to worry about."

Lori stared at Luna for a moment before stomping down her foot defiantly. "NO! You're wrong Luna! My baby brother is a sweet, little dork and he'd never do what he did to me today! I don't care if he is upset with me pushing him, he went too far! I do not like how he's been acting lately! He's becoming a...a...a little punk!"

"I'd have to concur with our eldest sibling." Lisa stated, adjusting her glasses. "Lincoln should have until his thirteenth year before he should be expected to engage in any form of rebelliousness. Until then, we should only see him continue to proceed with the type of tomfoolery that is expected of a male in his pre-teen stage of development. Clearly he is in need of surveilance."

"What? Do you mean spying on him?" Luna asked in disbelief. "That is really not cool, little dudette."

"Pish-posh." Lisa said. "It's for his own good. And should shed some light on the otherwise inexplicable change in his behavior as of late. But let's be fair and put it to a vote, shall we?"

"Good idea." Lori said, turning her attention towards Leni, Lucy and Lily. "Oh for the love of...is she still going on about that?"

Lori stepped back over to her sisters, catching the tail end of Leni's explanation.

"...and aside of the many various emo-related band paraphernalia, another distinct differnce would be their hair styles. Emos often have flat, straight, usually jet-black hair with long bangs covering much of their faces. It's really one of their best-known facets, actually. So, like, did you get all of that?"

Lily giggled and clapped, earning a wide smile from her second oldest sister. Leni turned to see Lori standing beside her and crossed her arms with a triumphant look on her face.

"See? Lily gets it!"

Lucy nodded. "It seems so. And that's why she's my favorite."

From across the room, Lola scowled. "Seriously?!"

"Focus, all of you. We're going to put it to the vote." Lori said. "All those in favor of spying on Lincoln, raise your hand."

Lori raised her hand. As did Lucy,Lola,Leni, Lana,Lynn and Lisa.

"All opposed?" she asked.

Luna, Luan and Lily raised their hands. Lori nodded her head.

"Then it's decided." Lori said. "Starting tomorrow we're going to get to the bottom of what Lincoln's been doing."

Lori walked over to her dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out her spare cellphone. Then she went over to her younger siblings and knelt down to be on eye-level with them. "You'll be doing most of the legwork since you all go to the same school." She said handing the phone to Lola. "Watch him closely, follow him after school and report anything odd to me, understood?"

Lucy,Lana, Lola and Lisa stood up and saluted thier eldest sister. "Ma'am, yes Ma'am" they said.

Luna stood up. "C'mon dudes." She said. "Do you really wanna do this to him? It's wrong to spy on people."

"Too bad." Lola said rubbing her hands together deviously. "If Lincoln's got a secret then I wanna know what it is!"

"And we're his big sisters." Lynn added "It's our job to look out for him. If something's wrong with him, then we should know about it and do something to stop it."

"I know that." Luna said. "But I still think we should give him space. We should have faith in him. It's A Matter of Trust."

"A vote is a vote." Lori said firmly. "Sorry Luna, but majority rules."

Luna frowned and clenched her fists in frustration. "Alright." Lori said. "Now that that's all settled, everybody out! Move it!"

"What's the problem?" Lynn asked

I wanna change my underwear since the ones I'm wearing have been stretched to the limit." Lori said before snarkily adding "...if you must know."

The other nine Loud sisters made thier way out as Lori ushed them towards the door. Stopping a moment to grab Leni by the shoulder. "I didn't mean you,Leni." she said. "This is your room too."

-The Next Day-

Lincoln walked to school with Clyde alongside him.

"I still can't believe it." Clyde said. "I mean...it's such a drastic change."

"It's not that big of a change, is it?" Lincoln asked.

"You're wearing skinny jeans with holes in them." Clyde said. "Your shirt says that you're "Hurting Inside". And almost everything you're wearing is black. I haven't seen you without something orange on since...ever!"

"So..."Lincoln said. "You don't like it?"

"I didn't say that." Clyde said. "I think it's cool that you're stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new."

The duo appraoched the front doors to the school. "I hope everyone else feels the same way" Lincoln said.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and crossed the threshold into the school. Deep down, Lincoln had expected that all eyes would turn to him the moment he stepped inside. But instead he only caught the eyes of a few of the other students. Some of them simply went about their business while a few others began to whisper with their friends. As he walked past them, Lincoln caught bits and pieces of what they were saying.

"Do you see what he has on his wrist? Looks like a dog collar!"

"Kid was always a little weird. Now he's dressing weird too."

"I think that it's a nice change. He looks kinda _cute_."

Lincoln blushed at that last one, especially when the girl who said it turned to give him a little wink as he passed by her. He felt a bit more confident knowing that some of his classmates liked his new look. And even though others didn't, he knew it would only be a matter of time before they moved onto something else. At least nobody had come out and said anything too harsh. It looked like he was in the clear.

"Hold up a moment there, Mr. Loud."

"Uh-oh, the prinicpal is coming our way, Lincoln." Clyde whispered to him.

"Yeah, I figured." Lincoln muttered in reply. "I probably violated the school dress code somehow."

Lincoln stopped walking and waited for Mr. Huggins to approach him. Clyde was willing to stay and wait, but Lincoln gestured for him to go on ahead. Clyde nodded and made his way to homeroom while Lincoln faced the principal.

"I'm sorry, Principal Huggins." he said, anticipating what was about to come.

"You're sorry? Whatever for, Loud? You've done nothing wrong." Huggins stated.

"I haven't?" Lincoln asked with mild surprise and confusion. "But, my outfit. You don't think there's anything wrong with it?"

Huggins let out a good natured scoff. "Of course not. We have a Mortician's club at this school. And its members don't dress too differently from what you're wearing now, despite being from a different subculture. I was just curious as to why you had such a sudden change in your wardrobe. Is everything alright at home?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to try something new."

"Well, it is a good look. Very sharp. But if you do feel the need to talk to anyone, feel free to stop by my office. I understand how it can be for kids at your age."

Lincoln smiled. "Thanks, Principal Huggins." he said. "I really appreciate it."

He gave Lincoln a kindly smile before turning to look at a pair of kids headed towards them. "No running in the halls." he said sternly. "Don't make me have to put you both in detention."

Lincoln chuckeld a bit as he made his way over to Ms Johnson's classroom and walked in. Liam, Zach and Rusty were chattering away until they looked up to see Lincoln in his new wardrobe.

"Whoa!" Rusty said. "What happened to you?"

Lincoln shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really." he said. "I'm just trying out a new look."

"Did your little sister pick those out for you?" Liam asked. "They sure look like her style."

"I dunno about that." Zach said. "She wears lot of black, but skinny jeans and t-shirts are more emo than goth."

The group looked over at Zach blankly. "What?" he asked. "My cousin works at the Cold Subject in the mall"

"It's cool if it's not your sort of thing." Lincoln said. "But this is just something I wanted to do for a bit"

"If it's what you want, then we should be supportive." Clyde said. "Right guys?"

The three redheads looked around at each other, before they all began to nod.

"If it works for you, then I'm happy for you." Rusty said.

"Same here" Liam said. "Even though I still think it's kinda weird..."

"Well, I think it's a fine look for Lincoln." said a voice from behind them.

The kids looked to see Mrs Johnson walking into class. "You look just as good in black as you do in orange." she said.

"Thanks Mrs Johnson. " Lincoln said.

"Now settle down everyone." she told the children in her classroom. "Everyone take your seats so class can begin."

Class seemed to pass by quickly for Lincoln. Just under three hours seemed to be no different than a few minutes as he heard his classmates whispers around him. Listening closely, he heard a his name a few times. But rather than be nervous, he found himself smirking.

"Yeah." he thought. "This is what awesome looks like."

Soon it was time for lunch. Lincoln sat at a table with his friends, chatting happily as they ate. His eyes darted around suspiciously.

"What's wrong, Lincoln?" Clyde asked.

"Did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched?" he asked.

"Only when I'm hanging out with my dads." Clyde said.

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the cafeteria, a group of goth kids sat at a table covered by a black tablecloth with a lacy trim. A candelabra was set at the center of the table, providing the otherwise dark corner with dim candlelight. The kids sat in near silence as they drank strawberry soda from plastic goblets. Lucy took a sip from her goblet and set it down

"What did I tell you?" Lucy said. "It's just as bad as I said it was, isn't it?"

Haiku wiped her mouth on a napkin. "I must admit, Lucy" she began. "I was doubtful, but you were entirely correct. It's just horrible."

"I just don't understand where he went wrong. He had so much promise as a potential goth."

"There, there." Haiku said, patting Lucy's shoulder. "This may be unsettling, but it isn't permanent. We can still help him embrace his true inner darkness and then he can be one of us. Just like you always wanted."

"You think so?" Lucy asked.

Haiku nodded solemnly. Lucy took another sip of her soda, pondering her options. She knew that she was supposed to keep an eye on Lincoln, but there had been a little bit of an oversight on her end. Something that she couldn't just put aside, not without there being some consequences. Fortunately, she wasn't the only sister tasked with watching over their brother.

"Excuse me, I need to take care of something."

Lucy got up from the table and ventured over to the section of the cafeteria where the kindergarteners were eating. She spotted Lisa amongst the many energetic youngsters, being the only one who was calmly sitting and eating her food. The goth closed in on her younger sister just as another girl her age was animatedly talking with her. Lucy waited until the child was done before she spoke up herself. She had something important to discuss, but that was no excuse for rudeness.

"Lisa."

As per the norm, Lisa started at the sound of Lucy's voice. So did the girl in the seat next to her, who immediately hid behind Lisa as the bespectacled girl turned to face her sister.

"Might I suggest that you refrain from appearing so suddenly without warning?" Lisa said. "Or need I remind you that kindergartners frighten easily?"

"You would know." Lucy deadpanned.

A mild tint appeared on Lisa's cheeks. "Is there a purpose to your presence, elder sister?"

Lucy nodded. "I have something I need to do after school. There's a meeting for the Mortician's club our president is out with chicken pox. As the vice president, I need to attend. Would you be okay handling things without me?"

Lisa sighed. "I'm afraid that I too have less than convenient news. I was approached by Principal Huggins' secretary this morning. It would seem that they are in dire need of assistance with the school's budget. If something isn't done, then we may face cuts that would result in a decline in many of the schools necessities, including the cafeteria fare. If you believe such a thing is possible."

"So, if you can't help either. Then that means..."

"That Lola and Lana are the only two who shall be observing our elder brother this afternoon. We should relay the information to them so that they may better prepare themselves."

"I'll take care of that." Lucy said. "I'll be passing by them on the way back to my table."

With that Lucy left and Lisa returned to her meal. Once she was gone, the girl who had been hiding beside Lisa peeked out again and cautiously took her seat again.

"Is everything alright, Darcy?" Lisa queried.

Darcy nodded. "Uh-huh. But your big sister is kinda scary."

"That is an astute observation." Lisa stated. "But fret not, for that is merely superficial."

"Huh?"

"You're right, my sister is scary. But she only looks that way."

"Oh, okay. So, why did she come over here?"

"She needed to inform me of something taking place after the school day concludes." Lisa explained. "But I let her know I had other plans to attend to instead."

"So, we're still gonna play hopscotch after school?" Darcy asked hopefully.

Lisa nodded. "Correct."

"YAY!" Darcy exclaimed, hugging her friend.

-A short while later-

The final bell rang and soon the students of Royal Woods Elementary erupted from the doorways, all eager to go and enjoy the rest of the day. Among the many children were Lola and Lana, the two searching through the crowds for their brother.

"I cannot believe that both Lucy and Lisa ditched us!" Lola griped. "This is supposed to be a team effort!"

"Calm down already, Lola." Lana said. "The two of us will be plenty. Now help me find Lincoln. If we don't, then we won't be able to find out anything!"

Lana looked closely, trying to identify her big brother by the new clothes he was wearing. Soon enough, a boy in all black walked out and hurried to the sidewalk. A boy with white hair. Lana smirked and pulled out the spare cell phone that Lori had given to them, calling her big sister on her normal phone. After a moment the call was answered and Lana heard Lori's voice on the other end.

"This is the Lizard Queen to Big L. Cootie-face and I have located the Missing Linc." Lana said into the phone.

Lola scowled at her twin. "Next time I get to pick the code names."

"Complain later, Cootie-face!" Lana said . "The Missing Linc is on the move."

Lincoln began to slowly set off, walking down the street at an even pace. Lola smiled and tightly gripped the front of her dress.

"Ready?" Lola asked her twin.

Lana smiled and grabbed the front of her overalls. "Ready?" she said.

They both pulled off thier outerwear,each revealing a ninja costume underneath. They pulled their hoods over their heads, and stretched the necks of the costumes over their mouths, only leaving thier eyes visible. Lola frowned at Lana from beneath her facemask.

"You should probably take off your hat" Lola said. "We're supposed to be ninjas, and it kinda takes away the sneakiness."

"Says the girl in a pink, glittery ninja suit." Lana said with a snort.

"Just because I'm spying on my brother and I can't be seen, doesn't mean I have to look bad doing it." Lola said.

"Oh please." Lana said. "You're all about the spotlight, you couldn't stand being in the background for more than ten seconds."

"I'll show you!" Lola said hotly as she sped forward and hid behind a tree."C'mon Lizard Queen, he's getting too far ahead!"

Lincoln walked for several blocks, his arms swinging back and forth and his head bobbing from side to side. After a few minutes of walking he pulled his cellphone out and looked at the most recent text received.

" Come to Burpin Burger after School." he read.

KLANK! KRASH!

A loud noise snapped Lincoln out of his stupor. He turned around to look at the source of the noise, only to see a trashcan rolling out of an alleyway. Lincoln shrugged and kept walking. Lola peeked her head out from behind another traschan, while Lana popped her head out of it.

"You won't get away from us that easy." Lana said.

When Lincoln arrived at his destination, Lana and Lola climbed up a tree to watch reached down the front of her ninja suit, pulled out a set of binoculars and looked though them."

"So his first stop is Burpin Burger." Lola said. "Interesting."

"Hungry y'all? Look no further!..." Lana started before Lola pressed her hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet!" Lola said harshly. "He'll hear you!"

Keeping her other hand on a glaring Lana's mouth, Lola looked through her binoculars again to see a group of kids approaching Lincoln. They surrounded Lincoln,they appeared to be poking and prodding him, trying to look at him from every angle. Thier words weren't clear, but they could make out what sounded like approval

"Looks like Lincoln's made some new friends" Lola said. "And they all dress like, Lucy. That explains a lot."

Lana pulled Lola's hand away from her face and reached for the binoculars. "Let me see!"

She grabbed them from Lola's grasp and held them up to her own eyes, inadvertantly yanking Lola towards her as the laynard attached to the binoculars closed around her neck. The pink ninja princess let out a small yelp as she barely avoided bumping skulls with her twin and then quietly growled. But before she could do or say anything in response, Lana pointed towards their older brother.

"Look, they're heading inside! We'll have to switch from stealth mode to incognito mode."

"Oh, goodie!" Lola chirped happily. "That means a costume change!"

The twins scooted carefully down from the tree and quickly pulled off their ninja outfits, revealing another set of clothing underneath. They now were wearing trench coats. Lana's was a dark blue with a matching fedora while Lola had on a pink one with a matching sun hat and feather boa. Lana put on a faux twirly moustache and then both she and Lola put on a pair of round sunglasses to finish their disguises. They approached the restaurant and Lana opened and held the door for her sister.

"Ladies first."

"Why thank you. Perhaps you aren't a lost cause, after all."

Lana frowned and followed Lola inside. They spotted Lincoln and the many other kids at the counter, waiting to order their food. The two spies waited for a few other people to step into line before they stepped in themselves. And once Lincoln had ordered his meal and paid for it, they made sure to take note of where he went to sit down. To their surprise, he stepped away from the rest of the group to sit at a smaller table with a girl. A girl with pale skin, black hair and a slim body, wearing a purple jumper and a darker blue checkered skirt.

"Who's she?" Lana asked Lola in a whisper. "And why is Lincoln sitting alone with her instead of with his other new friends?"

"How should I know?" Lola asked in return. "We'll just have to try and get an empty table near them to try and overhear what they're talking about! You go and get one, I'll order our food!"

"Okay, but make sure that the kids meal I get doesn't give me a toy I already have!"

Lola rolled her eyes and looked over at the little display that showed the current toys available for the kids meals. She snorted upon seeing what was there and turned to look at her sister incredulously.

"Princess Pony dolls? Really, Lana?"

"No!" Lana spat defiantly, a blush on her face. "That's for the _girl's_ meals! I want one for a boy so I can get a Tepid Tires car!"

"Well, I suppose that's a slight improvement. But remember we're spying right now, so no playing with it until later. We don't want to do anything to blow our cover."

"Yes, _Mom._ " Lana said as she snuck away to find a table adjacent to the one Lincoln was at. She found one and luckily Lincoln had his back facing her, so she could sit right behind him and catch anything he might be saying.

"Okay, Linc." the disguised twin said to herself. "What are you up to?"

For the most part, the conversation he was having with the girl wasn't anything really interesting. They were mostly talking about school. All Lana got from eavesdropping on them was that school was definitely not about to get any easier when she left the first grade. Luckily for her, before she could learn anything more about the educational trials that awaited her in the future, a teenage girl approached Lincoln's table with a tray.

"Okay." the girl said. "So, here's your food. Thank you for waiting and enjoy!"

She set their food onto the table and left to grab the next order. Maggie reached for her fries and gave Lincoln an almost non-existant smile.

"Thanks for treating me. You didn't need to do that." she said.

"Don't mention it. It's the least I could do for you." Lincoln replied nonchalantly.

From the table where the other kids were sitting, the sound of wolf whistles and cat calls were heard. Maggie threw them a dirty look, namely at one of them in particular. A tall, skinny boy in a dark hoodie with a red streak in his hair. He met Maggie's gaze and smirked smugly.

"See? Told you they were lovebirds."

"We are not!" Maggie hissed. "Quit it, Dennis!"

"Oh yeah? First you buy him new clothes and now he's treating you to a meal? Sounds like what lovebirds do for each other." Dennis said.

"Well I still say that you're jealous of him!" Maggie retorted.

Lana gasped at what she was overhearing. She may have only been a first grader, but she was more than capable of piecing together what was going on. And now, it all suddenly started to make sense to her.

"Holy schmoly! No wonder he's been acting so weird!" she whispered to himself. "He's got a girlfriend!"

Plz review  
And don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer, Twisteddarkness225


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5)**

Lori wearily trudged into her room and slumped over onto her bed. She turned over to lay on her back, holding her arms out to look at her bandaged fingers.

"Splinters." she said. "Burns, cuts, getting hit by hammers and more splinters. I hate shop class!"

Leni strode into her room with a wide smile on her face. "The smell of sawdust." she said. "The sweet sound of the power tools. And how cute I look in safety goggles. I _love_ shop class."

"Well at least one of us does." Lori groaned showing her hands to her sister. "Just look at these. I can hardly even text like this!"

"So you can just try calling then." Leni said. "And besides, didn't you once say you can text with your toes?"

"I can." Lori said. "But I plan on trying this new nail polish Whitney let me borrow. I don't wanna get nail polish on my phone."

Leni shrugged. "Maybe you could try putting plastic wrap on your phone." Leni said. "I can bring you some after I make my cake."

Lori sat up at the mention of a dessert. "Cake?" Lori asked. "Why are you making a cake?"

"For my cooking class." Leni said. "I have to make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake for my class project. It's gonna be harder than any other dessert I've ever had to make. Because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put the pineapple in upside down, or make the cake upside down."

Lori sighed and shook her head. "You bake the cake first." Lori said. "Then you turn the cake upside down before putting the pineapple on."

"Oh." Leni said. "That makes more sense."

As Leni made her way out of her room, Lori shouted after her. "Make sure you follow all the instructions exactly."

"I always do!" Leni said.

"I know." Lori said. "And that's what worries me. Just try and be careful, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

Leni frowned. "How many times are you guys gonna bring that up?" she asked. "I didn't mean to start that fire. The recipe said I was supposed to grease the bottom of the pan, so I did."

"Well this time, grease the bottom of the _inside_ of the pan." Lori said. "Not the outside."

After Leni left to go to the kitchen, Lori felt her phone vibrate inside her pocket. She carefully reached into her pocket with her abused fingers, removed her phone and pressed the button.

"Hello?" she said.

"Lizard Queen to Big L." Lana's said. "Do you read me?"

"This is Big L." Lori said. "I read you loud and clear."

"Cootie-face and I tracked the Missing Linc to Burpin Burger." she said. "And we've found something you won't believe."

Lori sat up, forgetting about everything else. This was the moment of truth. Finally, she would get some answers.

"Well?" she asked. "I'm literally waiting!"

"Linky got a girlfriend!" came Lola's voice from the other end of the call.

An excited gasp escaped Lori as her eyes widened in jubilation. "Omigosh! That is literally the best thing I've heard all day! Who is she? What does she look like? Does he look happy with her? What are they...wait. Wait just a minute." She said as her elation was overshadowed by a new worry. "Does this mean that he broke up with Ronnie Anne?"

"How the heck should we know?" Lola asked.

"I'll call you two back. Right now I need to talk to Bobby." Lori said, hanging up the call before either of the twins could say another word. Then she called Bobby's cell, only to have the call instantly rejected. This was followed almost immediately by a text message from him.

Bobby: Sorry, Babe. I can't talk right now. I'm at work.

Lori frowned and set her phone down on her bed. Luckily she hadn't gotten around to painting her toenails just yet. She settled herself so her feet were on either side of the device and she began to text Bobby back, albeit more slowly than usual.

Lori: I just wanted to see how you're doing, Boo-Boo Bear.

Bobby: Doing great! Thanks. U?

Lori: Can't complain. Just miss U soooooo much!

Bobby: Aww, I miss U 2 Babe.

Lori: And how's Ronnie Anne doing?

Bobby: Pretty good, she's made lots of new friends at school.

Lori: That's nice. Does she miss Lincoln at all?

Bobby: Hard to say. She hasn't really talked about him. Maybe? I know they chat sometimes. So it's not like they don't hear from each other. Why?

Lori: Just wondering. Anyway, I g2g. Love you! Kisses

Bobby: Love you 2! Kisses

Picking her phone up again, Lori laid back on her bed, resting her head on her pillow. She thought about what she had just learned from her sisters about Lincoln and then what she had just texted with Bobby. If Lincoln had in fact broken up with Ronnie Anne, then she no doubt would have heard something about it by now. Bobby would have definitely mentioned it to her. But it seemed like things were okay with them. So either Lincoln hadn't said anything to Ronnie Anne at all about meeting this new girl, or he hadn't thought to. There was also the possibility that Ronnie Anne had broken up with him. But then wouldn't he have spoken to her? Or at least any of the others?

"Great. Now I feel like I know less than I did before!" Lori griped to herself. "But at least now I have a good idea why he's been acting differently. I had better let the others know right away."

-Back at the Burpin Burger-

Lana and Lola watched closely as Lincoln ate with his new, female friend. Lana rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly.

"I can't believe it!" Lana said as a waitress placed their kids meals in front of them. "Ronnie Anne only moved a few months ago and he's already found someone new!"

Lola bit down on her lower lip, beads of sweat gathering on her forehead as a look of glee appeared on her face. She took a deep breath, preparing to squeal loudly, only for Lana to grab the burger on her tray and shove it into her mouth.

"Be quiet!" Lana whispered. "We can't risk getting caught. Do you wanna get an atomic wedgie like Lori did?"

Lola bit off a piece of the burger, chewed it up, and washed it down with a gulp of soda. "Please." Lola said. "He may have have the guts to stick it to Lori, but he's not crazy. He wouldn't dare."

"Still." Lana said. "Keep it down. I can't hear what they're saying."

Maggie and Lincoln ate quietly, while the other emo kids chatted amongst themselves. One of them, a girl with shaggy brown hair and a lip piercing leaned over to Lincoln.

"So." she said. "Let me be the first to apologize."

"Apologize for what?" Lincoln asked.

She smirked. "Intruding on your date." she said. "It's so impersonal with all of us here."

The other kids began to laugh lightly as Maggie frowned. "Shut up, Stacy!" she said before slurping down her chocolate shake.

"I mean seriously." Stacy went on. "You were pretty much all Maggie could talk about before you joined up with us."

Maggie's nose twitched and her eyes pricked with water. "Cut it out." she said irritation in her voice.

"C'mon Maggs." Dennis said. "You were the one who wanted him to join us the most. You might as well admit it."

"I..." Maggie struggled to say as she started to gasp. "I...told you...to..."

Maggie exploded with a violent sneeze, causing her shake to spurt out of her nose, splattering the table. Lincoln quickly moved his food as the other emo kids groaned in disgust as Maggie wiped the ice cream off her face and shirt with some napkins.

"Ugh..gross" Maggie said in a congested voice. "Dorry about thad."

"Let me help you with that." Lincoln said.

He walked over to Maggie's side of the table. He helped mop up the ice cream on her face before pressing a napkin to her nose.

"Whad are you doig?" Maggie asked.

"Helping" Lincoln said "Take two deep breaths in through your mouth, and nod your head forwards the moment you blow"

Maggie inhaled twice, nodded her head and blew her nose into the napkin, making a sound like something akin to a clogged tuba.

"Better?" he asked.

Maggie coughed and sniffed as Lincoln pulled the napkin away. She inhaled deeply and exhaled a few times, finding her sinuses to be completely clear.

"How did you do that?" Maggie asked.

"I have five younger sisters." Lincoln said as he threw away the napkin. "And all of them have allergies. It's not the first time I've helped a nose in need."

"Can you believe this?" Lana asked her twin.

"Not if I wasn't seeing it for myself." Lola said "Lori's gotta see this."

Lola pulled out the spare cell phone, aimed it at Lincoln and Maggie and took a picture. The phone flashed brightly, catching Lincoln's attention.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Shoot!" Lana whispered. "He's on to us! Quick, hide before he spots us!"

Lana dove under the table. Lola didn't follow. There was no way she'd dare to sully her outfit with whatever ickyness was on the floor. Lana noticed and waved for her to hurry up and join her in the hiding place, but Lola only crossed her arms and glared at her twin.

"I am not going under a table!" She huffed quietly.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention and Lola suddenly found herself facing her older brother. Lana scampered back as far as she could to remain out of sight while Lola faced Lincoln, hiding the phone behind her back. She carefully shook her hand a little, signaling for Lana to take it from her. Lana did so, fortunately not attracting Lincoln's attention.

"Lola. What are you doing here?" Lincoln asked.

"I think it's rather obvious that I'm enjoying lunch." Lola replied.

"Who's she?" Maggie asked, stepping beside Lincoln.

"This is one of my little sisters. And it looks like she isn't the only one here too." Lincoln said, taking note of the two meals on the table. "Who else is here?"

"And why are you taking pictures of us?" Maggie added.

"If you must know, Lana is here with me. And she wasn't taking pictures of you. She took one of me, at my request."

Maggie glanced at Lincoln, who saw the questioning look on her face.

"Lana is one of my other little sisters. Lola's twin." he explained. "And just where is she? I don't see her anywhere."

"Bathroom." Lola quickly answered. "She really had to go all of the sudden. So, who's your lady friend, big brother?"

"None of your business." Maggie said, frowning at the younger girl.

Lola scoffed. "Um, excuse you? Do you know who you're talking to?"

"A snoopy little brat?" Maggie said. "And a liar too. I can see someone under the table from here. Lana, I'm guessing?"

Lincoln crouched down and peeked beneath the table, spotting Lana instantly. The girl smiled sheepishly at him and waved.

"What are you doing under there, Lana?"

"Looking for the bathroom?" Lana half heartedly said. "I thought this was a short-cut. Oh well, guess I'll take the long way around. Coming through!"

Lana slipped out and dashed for the bathroom. Lola went to follow, declaring she also needed to go. But Lincoln took hold of her wrist and kept her from leaving.

"Not so fast. I want to know what's really going on. You two are definitely up to something."

"No we're not!" Lola said. "Unless you count needing to tinkle as being 'up to something.'"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes at her. "I find it a bit suspicious that you two both happened to be here, right after getting out of school with none of our older sisters around to supervise you. You followed me here, didn't you?"

"So what if we did?" Lola snipped, pulling her arm free. "It's a free country!"

"That doesn't mean it's okay to spy on people, Lola." Lincoln said.

"Well maybe if you weren't dressing like a weirdo and being a meanie, then I wouldn't want to spy on you!" Lola defended haughtily. "And _she_ is the one to blame for all of that, isn't she, Lincoln?" she spat, pointing an accusing finger at Maggie.

Maggie narrowed her eyes at the snippy six year old. "Have you got a problem with me, Pinky?" she asked.

"Maybe I do." Lola said. "And maybe I don't like the new company my big brother is keeping!"

"You shouldn't judge my new friends, Lola." Lincoln said. "I don't judge your friends, even though most of them are multi-colored with a cotton-poly fill."

Lola gasped, her face taking on an affronted look. "You..." she struggled to get the words out."You...YOU!"

"Wow." Lincoln said, a smirk coming to his face. "Lola Loud at a loss for words. I wish I had a camera to capture this moment."

Lola's face went red and she began grinding her teeth together as the rest of Lincoln's friends got up from their table, soom with bags of food in thier hands.

"We're heading out." Stacy called out to Maggie and Lincoln. "We'll wait out in the parking lot for you."

Lincoln looked up at Maggie. "You can go on ahead." he said. "Just let me talk to my sister and I'll be with you in a minute."

Lincoln watched Maggie shrug and walk away. He then turned back to look at Lola, who had her arms folded and face firmly set in a pout.

"So you're going to let them leave without you?" Lola asked.

"They won't leave without me." Lincoln said. "And besides, I only need a minute to deal with you."

Lola snorted. "Deal with me?" she repeated. "You can't stop me from following you, Lincoln."

Lincoln locked his fingers together and stretched his arms out in front of him, making Lola cringe at the sound of his cracking knuckles. He walked over to the table Lola was sitting at and looked at the underside. Then he walked back over to Lola, grabbed her and lifted her up

"Oh can't I?" he asked.

-Back at the Loud House-

Lori sat back on her bed as she admired her toenails. Painted a shade of blue so vivid it almost looked purple, they reminded her of something you'd see on a poisonious reptile. She wiggled her toes before fanning them with a sheet of paper to help them dry.

"Whitney was right." she said. "This really is a great color."

Lori phone began to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and answered the call, using her free hand to keep fanning her toes.

"Hello, this is Lori." she said.

"Lizard Queen to Big L." Lana said. "We've got a problem. Cootie face and I have lost the Missing Linc. Repeat. We have lost the Missing Linc!"

Lori growled in annoyance. "Did you at least find out what he's been doing?" she asked.

"Afraid not." Lana said. "We followed him to Burpin Burger, but he found us out and then Cootie face got into a...sticky situation."

"Sticky situation?" Lori repeated.

Lana sent Lori a picture, and her eyes widened at what she saw. Lola had been suspended from the underside of a table, bound there by several pieces of ABC gum.

"He literally stuck Lola under a table!?" Lori said. "I can't believe he'd do that!"

"That's what Lola said." Lana replied. "At least...I think that's what she said. I was laughing pretty hard so I couldn't hear her very clearly."

"Get her unstuck and sit tight." Lori said. "I'm on my way to get you."

"Got it." Lana said. "Lizard Queen over and out."

Lori ended the call, and sat back. She waited for the polish to finish drying, sending texts to her other sisters in the meantime. They were all at home, but the sooner she could let them know to come to her room, the better. All of the others responded right away, saying they'd be right up. Except for Luna.

The oldest Loud child let out a sigh. It didn't surprise Lori that the rock lover hadn't sent a reply. She could figure out why fairly easily, knowing her little sister's habits. She'd just go see her personally after her toenails dried. Once she was good to go, she got up and went over to her bedroom door. The sound of rock music was more than audible from the room across the hall, even with the door shut. The lyrics of Mick Swagger no doubt had drowned out the sound of Luna's cell phone, leaving her oblivious to her new message.

"Luna!" Lori called, opening the door to her sister's room. "Either turn that down for a second or pause it!"

No reply. Luna was lounging in her beanbag chair, her laptop next to her with the volume set to the max. Lori stepped over and tapped her sister on the shoulder, resisting the urge to plug her ears with her fingers.

"HEY! I'm talking to you!" she shouted.

Luna turned to face her sister. "Oh, hey Lori! Hang on a sec, I can't hear ya!"

She paused her music and looked up at her older sister. "What's up?"

Lori answered by showing Luna the picture she had just received of Lola. Luna gaped at the image for a moment before returning her gaze to Lori.

"Dude, how did that happen?"

"The same way that I wound up with a wedgie yesterday." Lori said. "Lincoln. And we're having another meeting as soon as I go get the twins, so do me a favor and make sure everyone is in my room by the time I get back with them. I think we may finally have a lead into what's making Lincoln act so differently."

She turned to leave, having Luna follow her into her room. Lori grabbed her shoes and keys, turning to leave immediately. As she got downstairs she noticed the smell of something delicious tantalizing her nostrils and she detoured into the kitchen briefly. There she found Leni attentively checking on the cake she had in the oven. And from what Lori could see, it looked remarkably good.

"Dang, Leni. You actually did an amazing job!" Lori praised.

"Well...I may have kinda cheated." Leni confessed. "I got Luan to help me. Y'know, since she learned to bake from Dad she's really good at it."

"Still, it looks good and it's literally not even done yet! I wish I could have a slice."

"I'll save you one. I'm sure my teacher won't mind. Or I could just make another for all of us to share!" Leni chirped. "Oh, and I totes got your text. But I gotta wait for this to finish baking. Is that okay?"

"It's fine, I have to go and get Lola and Lana anyway. I'll be back soon. Just remember to keep it out of reach of Charles. And Dad. Especially Dad."

Leni nodded and Lori took her leave. She climbed into the driver's seat of Vanzilla and went off to pick up the twins. By the time she returned home and got back up to her room, she found that most of the other sisters had arrived and were waiting patiently, seated throughout the space either on the floor or on one of the beds. Lori took a quick head count and noticed that aside Lola, who was insistent on freshening up, the only other sisters not present were Lisa and Lucy.

"We're almost ready." Lori announced as she and Lola walked into the center of the room. "We just need Lucy and Lisa to come and we can start the meeting."

"I'm right here." Lucy said from behind her eldest sister.

Lori jumped and clutched at her heart. "OK." she said with a gasp. "Now we just need Lisa."

A few minutes later, the bespectacled sibling made her way into the room. "Apologies for the delay in my arrival, siblings." Lisa said. "I was detained for longer than expected while assisting the school faculty."

"Baloney." Lucy said. "I saw you playing hopscotch with your friend, Darcy."

Lisa gave a wide, nervous smile. "Well..." she said. "It was before we played hopscotch?"

Lori rolled her eyes. "Moving on." she said. "Now that we're all here our Sibling Meeting can begin."

She banged her slipper on her podium. "Lemme guess." Luna said in a bored tone. "First order of business is Lincoln?"

"You've got that right." Lori said before turning her attention to the twins. "Lola and Lana, report!"

Lana stood up and cleared her throat. "We followed Lincoln after school." she said. "And we found out that Lincoln's made some new friends."

She pressed a button on Lori's spare phone, sending the pictures she took to her siblings. The girls gasped at the pic of Lincoln cleaning off the face of a sour looking older girl.

"Whoa." Luna said. "Who knew Linc was into older girls?"

"Hey." Luan said. "That's Maggie. He's been hanging out with her all this time?"

"You know her?" Lori asked.

"Kinda." Luan said. "Lincoln and I performed at her birthday party a few months ago."

"What else do you know about her?" Lori asked.

"Just that she hates clowns and likes mimes." Luan said.

"And that she sneezes a lot." Lynn added.

"How would you know that." Luan asked .

"Maggie goes to my school." Lynn said. "We have a few classes together. Gym, English and I think we might have lunch together."

"Lunch isn't a class." Lisa said dryly.

"She's like the queen of the emo kids at our school." Lynn said, ignoring Lisa. "They all listen to her. She's grouchy, almost never smiles, and she disagrees with just about everything. Heck, she doesn't even talk much unless she's saying she doesn't like something. Plus the sneezing thing. But that's pretty much all I've got."

"I see." Lori said "Well, if you aske me, Lincoln's new "friend" is having an effect on his attitude."

"Hang on, Lori." Luna said. "Just because he's got some new friends doesn't mean he's looking for love in all the wrong places. Shouldn't we give this new girl a chance?"

"Not after what he did to me." Lola said though her teeth. "I think we should stop him from hanging out with her ASAP!"

The other Loud Siblings looked at Lola. "What did he do?" Luan asked.

Lana pressed a button on Lori's spare phone and sent another picture to them. The moment they laid eyes on the photo they all either gasped or smirked at the sight. Luan was among the smirkers, her comedic instincts prompting her to speak without a moment's hesitation.

"Looks like you got yourself in a _sticky situation_! Ha Ha ha! Get it?"

"Already did that one, Luan." Lana said.

"You did? Dang it, hold on. I got another one. Looks like our brother had a lot of _gum_ -ption!"

"Could we please stay on topic?" Lori asked. "As I was saying, Lincoln's behavior is clearly being changed as a result of this 'Maggie' girl. And..."

"And nothing dude!" Luna cut in. "You don't have any proof that Linc's new lady is making him do anything!"

"Okay, fine. Then we'll just need to get some proof." Lori responded. "Lynn, since you go to the same school, do you think you could keep tabs on her?"

Lynn nodded. "I can do that. I'll let you know right away if I figure anything out."

Lori nodded and banged her slipper again. "Then it's settled. We'll all meet again tomorrow after we get home from school and Lynn can share her what she finds out. Until then, I say we all keep an eye on our brother too, just in case."

"With pleasure." Lola said, a devious smile coming to her face.

The sisters began to file out of the room, Luna giving Lori an unamused look and shaking her head. Lori let it go, not bothered that Luna still seemed to be in denial of Lincoln's change in attitude lately. She was certain that her sister would come around once they gathered some information on the possible (or obvious, in Lori's opinion) cause of the problem. Then she'd have a moment to tell Luna 'I told you so' and they could set to work on getting things back to normal. It was simply a matter of time.

As the afternoon progressed closer to the early hours of the evening, Lola took posession of the remote and turned the t.v. onto the princess channel. She passed the time by making notes for herself for the next pageant, or just scoffing at the sad attempts being made by other girls as they competed with one another. Some of them were so bad it was actually funny to see them fail. And a good laugh at someone else's expense was just what she needed after the earlier incident at the Burpin' Burger.

The sound of the front door opening caught her attention. And when she saw that it was her brother walking into the house, she hopped off of the couch and closed the distance between then in a heartbeat.

"YOU!" she barked angrily. "You've got a lot of nerve, mister! Just who do you think you are doing that to me?!"

Lincoln looked at her, not even the slightest bit intimidated. "I'm your big brother. And I was going to apologize for earlier, but with the way you're acting, I'm having second thoughts. Maybe you don't deserve an apology yet."

"Oh I need more than just an apology, big brother! If you don't want me telling Mom and Dad, then you better get ready to do some favors. Starting with that manicure I wanted the other day."

"No." he said sternly. "You aren't getting your way this time, Lola. I'm still not happy about you spying on me earlier and extorting me isn't going to change that. If anything it might make me give you a repeat of what happened earlier."

"Ha!" Lola snorted. "Nice try, but we aren't in the Burpin' Burger anymore. There's no tables with icky gum for you to stick me to!"

"True. But there is the banister, where Lana keeps her ABC gum collection." Lincoln said, stepping over to the stairs and pointing out the aforementioned gum. "And maybe this time I won't be so careful as to avoid getting any of it into your hair."

"Oh...well, um..." Lola said, stepping back and nervously holding her golden locks in her hands protectively. "I...I just remembered! I need to go write invitations for my next tea party! I have a long guest list so I really should go and get started!"

Lola sped up the stairs and into the safety of her room, shutting the door firmly behind her. A moment later, Lincoln also reached the second floor of the house, heading for the bathroom. As he passed by Luna and Luan's bedroom, the rocker poked her head out and tried to gain his attention.

"Psst! Hey bro! You got a sec? We need to talk!" she whispered.

"About what?" he asked.

"Not here." Luna said, peeking across the hall to make sure Lori wasn't aware. "Let's go someplace more private."

Lincoln nodded and he led Luna into the bathroom. He shut the door and the two huddled by the sink.

"So what's going on, Luna?"

"Sorry dude, about the twins following you today. Lori is really wound up about whatever she thinks is going on with ya."

Lincoln frowned. "Why am I not surprised? Does this mean that I have to worry about being spied on from now on?"

Luna shrugged. "Can't honestly say, bro. Just know that she's only doing it because she cares. I've tried to talk to her about it, but she's being stubborn."

"Again, no surprise there. But thanks for telling me. Now, if you don't mind, I need some privacy for myself."

"Gotcha." Luna said, taking her leave. As she shut the door behind her, she immediately found herself confronted by Lori, who was on her way into the bathroom.

Lincoln pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and rapidly sent a text to Maggie "We've got a problem"

Maggie texted back "I've got tons of problems" she texted back "What's one more"

"My sisters are really getting on my case. I can deal with that. But now they know about you too."

"I'm not afraid of those two half pints"

"I meant all ten of my sisters. I can't promise we can keep things quiet now that you're on their radar

"There's only three days left. We just have to keep a lid on things until that, it won't matter"

"Just keep an eye out for my sister 's short, a brunette, and wears a lot of red. She goes to your Middle School and I'm sure she'll be trying to tail you."

"Don't worry, I can handle it"

There was a loud knock on the door "Lincoln" said Lori impatiently "Hurry up. Other people have to use the bathroom, you know"

"Yeah" said Lana's boyish rasp. He could hear the urgency in her voice " Mom says I can't pee outside anymore so hurry up or I'm gonna burst!"

Lincoln put his cell phone back into his pocket and walked out off the bathroom "All yours" he said before walking past his sisters and making his way over to his room

Lucy peeked out her door to catch a glimpse of her brother, just barely suppressing a shudder of disgust at his look. She walked over to her bed, reached underneath her bed and pulled out a worn out book. She gently turned the pages as she looked through the handwritten passages

"Great-grandma Harriet" Lucy thought "I know you told me not to worry, but I can't let this go. That thing out there is _not_ my brother. And I have got to do something about this. Now!"

 **Please review**  
 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6)**

The sun shone brightly that Friday morning as the students of Royal Woods Elementary awaited the final day of classes to end so they could gain the freedom of the weekend. There were smiles all around as the children grouped up with their friends and walked the hallways between classes. One would be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn't in high spirits that morning.

Unless...they happened to find the Mortician's club down in the boiler room of the school's basement. The cool, dank and dim atmosphere held an almost tomb-like quality that provided the gothic children with a comfortable place to gather prior to the unfavorable drugery of schoolwork that they were expected to accomplish. Among the darkly dressed group was Lucy, who had confided in her friends about her recent discovery of Lincoln's reasons for becoming an emo kid.

"I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel." Haiku said with a trace of sympathy in her voice. "To think that your brother has fallen victim to a vile, emo-harpy. If only we had known she was preying on him, perhaps we could have done something."

"We still can." Lucy whispered, pulling out an old book from her backpack. "I know it's a risk, but I'm willing to take it to save him."

Haiku stepped back, a flicker of fear in her eyes. "...Lucy. Don't. I know that it is very upsetting to see that your brother has turned emo. However, despite how unfortunate it is, you cannot give into desperation. There's got to be a better way."

"I don't have time for that." Lucy replied with a dark melancoly. "That isn't the real Lincoln. I don't know what's happened to him. But I have to put and end to whatever's gotten into him. Even if it means doing the unthinkable."

Lucy opened the book to a page with its corner folded in. She ran her finger across it, quickly reading the words while most of the other club members cautiously backed away.

"To think it would be so simple to summon one so dangerous." the gothic Loud whispered. "But I won't complain so long as I get results."

"Lucy...stop before you do anything we may all regret." Haiku warned.

"Beetlejuice..."

All of the club members gasped and stepped further back, except for Haiku who instead stepped forward. She snatched the book from Lucy, closing it and tucking it under her arm. Then she pressed one finger to Lucy's pale lips, not allowing her the chance to utter another syllable.

"Do not call on forces we cannot control. I know you only want to save your brother from a horrible fate, but we will not do so by summoning he who must not be named."

"I know it's dangerous." Lucy said reaching for the book. "But Lincoln is worth the risk!"

Haiku held the book further out of her reach. "We can't risk bringing him into this realm again." Haiku said firmly. "Or have you forgotten what happened last time."

Lucy shuddered. "I haven't forgotten." she said. "He'd have been free to wreak havoc on our realm if we hadn't..."

"Please." Haiku interrupted. "We all swore to never speak of that time ever again."

Lucy hung her head down. "I'm just..." she struggled to get the words out. "I mean...He's my brother and I'm worried about him. He's been coming home late. Coming home hurt. Lying about where he is. And now on top of it, he's dressing like an emo. I'm scared for him."

"You have every right to be." Haiku said. "But there are better ways to deal with this than invoking a dangerous spirit like Bee...er...him. Now please Lucy, promise me you won't try this summoning again."

"I won't try and summon him again." Lucy said. "I promise."

The bell signaling the start of Lunch rang and the Mortician's club made thier way out. As Lucy slowly followed behind, she muttered to herself.

"Unless I absolutely have to."

Kids crowded into the cafeteria, getting their food and sitting at their tables. Happily chattering amongst themselves. Lincoln sat down between Clyde and Liam, and across from Rusty and Zach. Rusty looked up from his food to look at Lincoln.

"Hey Lincoln." Rusty said with a smirk. "Are you OK?"

Lincoln smirked back, looking down at the front of his t-shirt. A black shirt with purple letters, spelling out the phrase "I'm Not OK"

"The shirt says it all." Lincoln said.

As the group of friends talked amongst themselves, Lisa stared at Lincoln from the table of rowdy kindergardens she sat at. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out.

"Princess Pink to FourEyesZeroStyle." Lola voice came out of phone. "Mudpie and I are in the lunch line. Do you have visual on the Missing Linc?"

"10-4." Lisa said into her phone. "The Missing Linc is eating with his friends. There doesn't seem to be anything going on."

"Do you still have him bugged?" Lola asked.

"I do." Lisa said. "And I'm patching in now."

Lisa put an earpiece into her ear and pressed a button. Lincoln's voice came over the earpiece, along with the sounds of his friends voices. Lisa tried to focus to hear what they were saying.

"Is he telling them anything." Lola asked.

"I can't tell." Lisa said. "I'll turn up the volume."

As Lisa increased the volume on her earpiece, a loud sound broke through the sounds of Lincoln's voice.

CRUNCH

Lisa fell off her seat in surprise and landed onto the floor. She stood up and looked to the side to see the source of the noise. Darcy quickly hid her hands behind her back, trying her best to look innocent. Lisa pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Darcy." she asked. "What are you eating?

Darcy brought her hands from behind her, revealing a handful of something thin and orange "Carrot sticks" she said "Do you want some?"

"Yes please." Lisa said taking a few. "With my astigmatism I need as much Vitamin A as I can get."

"What's an ah-stick-mah-tiz-um?" Darcy asked.

"It is when..." Lisa began, but hesitated. She could explain it quite easily, but she also knew that her friend would have a bit of difficulty understanding most of it if she were to go into full detail. It would be better for both their sakes to keep it as simple as possible. "It is when someone's eyes don't work right. Much of what I see is all blurry unless I have my glasses."

"Oh...then, here."

Darcy held out the remaining carrot sticks for Lisa, who smiled a little at the gesture. She took a few more, insisting that Darcy keep some for her own enjoyment. The four year old genius then resumed her spying on her elder brother while he spent the duration of the lunch period with his friends.

Meanwhile, at Royal Woods Middle School, Lynn was busy with her own spying. Her luck hadn't been too good so far as she hadn't been able to keep much of an eye on her. But fortunately, she had lunch now and that made it much easier to follow the gloomy girl. And knowing where her locker was helped a lot too. It was just a short distance down from her own, making it a very convenient place to keep an eye on her target.

Lynn took her time as she put her stuff into her locker, glancing at Maggie's locker while she did so. The other girl hadn't been in gym class that morning, a fact that Lynn found suspicious. She saw the girl shortly before then, but instead of joining the rest of their class, Maggie had walked off after talking to the teacher for a moment. And not in the direction of the nurse's office either.

A loud noise sounded somewhere not too far from Lynn. She diverted her gaze from the locker she had been watching and towards the source of the sound. A couple of other girls were arguing about something and one of them had slammed her locker shut and stormed off. Turning back to look at Maggie's locker, she was surprised to find that the emo girl had already gotten there and was also already closing it and about to head off to the cafeteria.

"Dang it." Lynn muttered to herself. "She's fast!"

Lynn went to follow Maggie, resisting the urge to hurry as it would possibly attract the other girl's attention. But with all of the other students heading in the same direction, she was at risk of losing sight of her. Lynn swiftly moved around the others, not letting Maggie out of her sight as she moved into a better position to watch her. However, she wound up nearly knocking someone over in the process and had to stop suddenly. By the time she looked back in Maggie's direction, the girl was gone.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Lynn started to weave her way through the crowd that was before her. If she couldn't follow Maggie to the cafeteria, then she'd just have to get there as quickly as she could and try to spot her then. She knew that she wasn't supposed to only watch Maggie, but she had other plans. The direct approach was the best way to get results and she was going to get some results.

"It's good that we've both got lunch this period." Lynn said to herself. "I can find her when I get there. She and her friends always sit at the same table."

Lynn pressed a hand to her stomach as it growled loudly. "Maybe I can get there fast enough to get my food first. Can't spy on people on and empty stomach."

Lynn ran through the hall, past the other kids, and turned a corner...

...only to trip over someone and fall onto the floor, spilling the contents of that someone's backpack all around them. Lynn pushed herself back onto her feet, glaring at the person she had run into. A pale, dark haired person, meeting her glare with a glare of her own.

It was Maggie.

And she was scrambling to pick up all the things that had fallen out of her backpack.

"What's the deal?" Lynn said. "What were you doing just standing there?"

"Well I was tying my shoe." Maggie said. "But now I'm picking myself up off the floor. And picking up all the things you knocked out of my backpack."

Lynn shrugged. "Sorry." Lynn said. "I wasn't trying to knock you down. Here, let me help you with that."

Lynn picked up a packet of tissues and handed them to Maggie, who stuffed them into her backpack. Followed by a cell phone charger, coins, and several purple ink pens. The last thing Lynn grabbed ahold of was a pair of rectangular goggles. She looked at them curiously.

"Huh." Lynn said. "Gaming Goggles. My brother has a pair just like these"

"Interesting." Maggie said flatly. "So can I have them back now?"

Lynn handed them to Maggie, but just as Maggie reached for them, Lynn pulled them back. "Wait a minute..." she said.

Lynn looked at the goggles closely. On the bottom was a white label sticker, with the name "Lincoln" written in orange marker, in what was unmistakably Lincolns' handwriting.

"These _are_ my brothers goggles!" Lynn said. "What are you doing with these!?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I was borrowing them. You can ask him yourself." Maggie answered icily. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like those back."

After a moment of hesitation, Lynn held them out for Maggie to take. Maggie grabbed them, but found that Lynn had yet to loosen her grip. She tugged on them a couple times, Lynn still holding on firmly. But she finally let them go, allowing Maggie to put them into her bag. Maggie uttered a cold 'thanks' and then proceeded to head for the lunch room. Lynn fell into step beside her, earning a soft glare from the girl.

"Do you want something?"

"Easy there, pouty." Lynn said. "I'm just heading to lunch, same as you. But, I wouldn't mind knowing just what's going on between you and my little bro."

"We're friends." Maggie told her curtly.

"Uh-huh. You sure about that? Because from what I heard...you were on a date with him yesterday."

"What you heard?" Maggie repeated. "From who? The little princess who was following us around yesterday? Well, she got it all wrong. You're brother and I are friends and he let me borrow his game so I could try it. Nothing more. If you don't believe me, then go and ask him yourself."

Maggie brushed past the other girl and straight down the hallway. Lynn made no effort to continue keeping up with her. She had already accomplished what she needed to do. With a satisfied smirk, she pulled out a cell phone from her pocket. It had a purple phone case with a little skull charm dangling from it, the name 'Maggie' written in tiny cursive on the skull's frontal bone.

"Okay, let's see what we've got here." Lynn thought.

She swiped her finger across the screen and it unlocked, thankfully not needing a password. Lynn quickly noticed something odd on the screen. A little folder icon which had been labeled "Loud". Her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, her eyes widening instantly.

"What the?" she whispered. "Just how many pics of Lincoln does she need?! Weirdo!"

She closed the folder and returned to her original objective. Finding the phone's calendar app, she opened it and scanned for any sort of event in the dates for the next week. It was her hope to figure out just where and when Maggie would be alone with Lincoln again so she could follow them and keep watch. And just as she expected, she spotted two dates with something marked down. One of them was that very day and the other was the upcoming Sunday. But to her dislike, they were pretty vague.

"Meet with the gang at the hangout." Lynn read from that day's entry. "No address, dang it."

She exited the calendar and looked to see if maybe there was something to help her figure out what the 'hangout' was. Unfortunately though, her search yielded nothing. But at least she had something to work with. Pulling out her own phone, she called Lori, getting an answer before the second ring.

"You've got Lori, talk to me."

"Hey sis, I have something you've gotta hear!" Lynn said. "So I got Maggie's phone and..."

"Whoa, whoa, wait up." Lori interupted. "Did you just say, you have her phone? You took it from her? As in you _stole_ it?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that I stole it. She dropped it and I just sorta...picked it up."

"Does she know you have it?" Lori asked sternly.

"...not exactly." Lynn admitted.

"Then it's no different than stealing!" she hissed. "You had literally better be planning on giving that back to her! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in?"

"Okay, okay! I get it! I'll go and give it back to her now. Then can we talk?"

"Sure, but you had better hurry." Lori said. "My lunch period is almost over and I have to get to my next class. So just text me if I can't answer. Okay?"

"Got it." Lynn said, ending the call. "Sheesh, bite my head off, why don't you?"

Lynn hurried over to the cafeteria and looked around. She spotted Maggie at her usual table and made her way there at a casual pace. Once she got close enough she found herself being glared at again by Maggie, who had spotted her almost immediately. Lynn played it cool and just kept on walking over to the table.

"What do you want now?" Maggie asked her as she got there.

"I just thought you might want this back. It's yours right?"

Lynn held out the phone for Maggie to take. Maggie's eyes went wide and she snatched her phone out of Lynn's hands, glaring angrily at the jock.

"Give me that! Just what made you think it was okay to take my phone?!" Maggie snapped.

"Because it was either I pick it up from the floor, or leave it for someone else to take." Lynn calmly said. "The words you're looking for are 'thank you', by the way."

Maggie frown deepened, and she gave a frustrated groan. "Thanks, I guess." she said.

Lynn snorted and walked away muttering under her breath. "I dunno what my brother sees in you...but I'm gonna find out."

As Lynn walked away, Maggie began pressing buttons on her phone, searching through everything she had saved. "It..doesn't look like she deleted anything" she thought.

She stuffed her phone into her backpack as her friends approached. She greeted them with a half-hearted wave.

"Hey guys." she said flatly.

"What's up Maggs?" said Stacy. "You're looking even more sulky than usual."

"It's nothing big." Maggie said. "Just had an accident in the hallway. Some girl tripped over me and my backpack spilled out on the floor. I was lucky I didn't lose my lunch."

"Feeling sick?" Dennis asked as he sat down.

"No." Maggie said as she pulled a brown paper bag out of her backpack. "I mean I'm lucky my lunch didn't fall out of my backpack."

She pulled a cream cheese and jelly sandwich out of lunch bag and began to eat. Her friends pulled thier lunches out and chatted with each other as they ate. Topics such as school, life, and things that they soon thier conversation carried onto the member of of thier group who wasn't there.

One boy with shaggy black hair wearing a dark green hoodie piped up. "He was kinda annoying at first" he said "But once he mellowed out he was pretty cool."

"I told you, Ricky" Maggie said "Asking him to join us was a good idea. Although, I kinda wish he went to our school now"

Stacy chuckled. "Aww, does Maggie miss her boyfriend." she asked.

Maggie slapped Stacy on the back of her head. "Bite it, Stacy." she said hotly.

The girl with purple tinted hair and fangs. "It would be easier to plan things if we were all here" she said with a smirk. "And besides, I'd love to see him give Dennis another nosebleed, right now."

"Shut up, Mona." Dennis said as he crushed an empty soda can against the side of his head.

The other kids began to laugh and smile. "I'm just saying." Mona went on. "You would go on and on about being the best, but once Lincoln joined up he took you down without so much as breaking a sweat"

"He got lucky." Dennis said.

"Maybe the first time." Stacy said. "But what about the other twelve?"

Dennis growled in anger and turned his chair around to avoid looking at the smug looks on his friends faces. But he quickly turned back around to look at them.

"Hey, Maggie." he said. "You said a girl tripped over you in the hallway. Was she a brunette with a ponytail wearing red?"

"Yeah." Maggie said. "She's one of Lincoln's big sisters...why?"

Dennis moved his chair to the side and pointed to one side of the cafeteria where the school's jocks and sports teams sat. Sitting at one table with a sub sandwich in her hands was Lynn, staring intently at Maggie, who shuddered at the look on her face.

"What's her problem?" Dennis asked.

"She's been pestering me because she thinks I'm dating her brother or something stupid like that." Maggie explained, realizing what she said and regretting it a moment later.

"OOOH, so you two are dating!" Stacy teased.

"No. We are not." Maggie stated firmly, feeling a tingle in her nose. "His big sister just thinks that because the two little sisters who were spying on us yesterday got that idea...from _you._ "

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Dennis asking a tad mockingly. "His sisters want to make sure that you're good enough for their brother!"

"I hate all of you right now." Maggie deadpanned, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Do you hate us as much as you _love_ your boyfriend?" Stacy asked.

"Cut it out, Stacy" "Maggie said "It's bad enough that I have ponytail over there gawking at me. I don't need any more crap to bother me, thanks."

"How long do you think she's gonna be staring at you?" Ricky asked.

"I really hope not much longer." Maggie said. "It's really annoying."

The bell rang a short while later and the rest of the day progressed. The remaining classes passed by and then the final bell rang, dismissing the students for the weekend. Maggie was grateful for the chance to get the heck out of there. Aside of having to put up with Lynn staring at her throughout lunch, she also had felt the other girl's eyes on her all during their english class. And even now, as she was at her locker, she knew that she was being watched.

"I take back what I said earlier." Maggie thought. "This is _beyond_ annoying! I need to ditch this chick, now!"

As she gathered the books she'd need for that weekend's homework assignments, Maggie planned out her escape. Her mother was going to be picking her up from school and all she needed to do was make it out of the building and to her mother's van as soon as she could. Then she'd be in the clear. But to be sure, she had a plan to pretty much guarantee she'd be able to get out with no trouble.

Shutting her locker and zipping up her bag, Maggie turned to confront Lynn. The fact that she approached her so suddenly left the jock momentarily confused, but she wasn't about to complain about it. If anything, this could be what she had been waiting for.

"Hey. What's up?" Lynn asked, trying to act nonchalant.

"You know what's up." Maggie said in response. "You've been watching me since lunch and it's really bugging me. So I want to make a little deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" the jock inquired, one eyebrow raised.

"A race. You and me. One lap around the school. If I win, you have to cut it out with the staring."

"And when I win, you have to tell me anything I want about you and my brother." Lynn said cockily.

"Deal. Let's go. I want to leave you behind as soon as possible."

Lynn laughed. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I'll be the one leaving you behind!"

"Exactly what I'm hoping for." Maggie thought to herself.

The two left the school and went out to the sidewalk. Maggie scanned the many cars parked on the side of the street, seeking her mother's. She spotted it not too far away and planned out how she'd go about her next move. Leading Lynn not too far from the spot where her mother was parked, she looked at the other girl and pointed to a nearby tree.

"Okay. We start here and go around the school once. Whoever tags that tree first is the winner, got it?"

Lynn nodded. "Oh I got it, now it's time for you to get it. And by 'it', I mean schooled!"

Maggie rolled her eyes and stood still while Lynn crouched down to ready herself. The confident look in the brunette's eyes had Maggie confident that she didn't need to worry about the girl not falling for her plan. All she needed was to say...

"Go."

The athletic girl tore off like a bullet, putting a decent distance between herself and Maggie, who hadn't budged an inch. Maggie smiled for just a moment, satisfied with just how easy that had been to pull off. She turned to go over to her mother's van, taking her time.

Meanwhile, Lynn was nearing the first turn of the race. She couldn't spot Maggie in her peripheral vision, leaving her to believe she had a good lead on the other girl. However, it was when she turned to look back at her competition that she saw just how good her lead really was. Maggie was so far behind that Lynn almost didn't see her. And that was enough to make her skid to a stop.

"Hey..." she said. "She's not trying to race me at all! Oh, dang...she tricked me!"

Lynn turned around and ran in the opposite direction, straight towards Maggie who ran towards her mothers van. Lynn watched as the side door slid open and Maggie leapt in. She stopped as she noticed a white haired figure struggling to shut the door.

"Lincoln?!" Lynn shouted. "What are you doing in..."

Lincoln quickly shut the door and the van drove away, leaving Lynn in the dust. She coughed and choked on the exhaust for a a moment before pulling out her phone. She quickly texted Lori.

"I lost her. But Lincoln was in the car that picked her up. So wherever she's going, Lincoln is going with her"

Lynn stared at her phone intently, waiting for her next orders. They arrived in a matter of seconds.

"Wait right there. I'm coming to take you home right now"

Lynn frowned at her phone. "Shouldn't I try and follow them?" she texted.

Lori answered with the same amount of speed. "No. We've already got another way to find him. And the sooner we all get home, the sooner we can use it."

As Lynn moved back in front of the school to wait for Lori, Maggie and Lincon got further and further away from it. Maggie huffed and puffed trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry about my sister." Lincoln said. "I hope she wasn't too much of a..."

Maggie flung her head forward, exploding in eight loud, messy sneezes. Snot dripped from her nostrils and drool slid down from the corners of her mouth. She snuffled and snorked, struggling to catch her breath even harder.

"Gesundheit." Lincoln said as he inched away from her.

"Sweetheart." Maggie's mother said from the drivers seat. "Calm down. I've never seen you so anxious."

Lincoln watched Maggie pull tissues from her backpack and mop up the mucus on her face. "Anxious?" Lincoln repeated.

"Yes." said her mother. "It's a little quirk Maggie has, like a stress reaction. She sneezes if she's nervous or uncomfortable. It clears up after a few seconds when she calms down. Please don't laugh, she's a bit insecure about it."

"Bom!"Maggie complained. "He didn't have to dow..."

"It's cool." Lincoln said. "My friend Clyde gets sweaty feet when he's nervous. And nosebleeds when he gets scared...or near my sister Lori. Sneezing is no big deal."

Maggie blew her nose, then she blew a second time and sneezed again. Giving a frustrated groan, she turned to Lincoln.

"Ligcud?" Maggie said with a note of embarassment in her voice. "Cud you..do be a faber?"

"What kind of favor?" Lincoln asked.

"Rebember at the Burpin Burger?" she said. "When by shake cabe out of by doze you...helped me."

She put air quotes around the word helped and pointed to her nose. Lincoln pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to her nose.

"Breathe in through your mouth twice." He said. "Nod your head when you blow."

Maggie did as she was told and blew her nose into the cloth. She made a honking nose that made Lincoln smirk.

"Glad your horn works." Lincoln said. "How are your lights?"

"Ha Ha." Maggie said as she took a deep breath through her, now unclogged, sinuses. "Thank you."

"No problem." Lincoln said as he put the cloth back into his pocket. "But for the future you might wanna invest in a hankie, they're a lot better for your nose than tissues."

"Oh my," Maggie's mother said. "What a little gentleman he is!"

Maggie nose itched as she frowned at her mother. "Mom, please don't start." she said. "I just got my nose clear."

"Of course, sweetie. Now, where was it you wanted me to take you again?"

"You can just drop us off near Flip's Food & Fuel." Maggie said. "It's not too far and we need to grab snacks for the others."

"Alrighty, just make sure not to stay out too late. You know how I worry."

"Probably a good idea." Maggie said with a devilish grin. "Lincoln's been making his big sisters worry a lot lately."

"You don't know the half of it." Lincoln dryly said. "My sister Lori is being ridiculous about it! I bet she's probably on her way home right now, saying something to herself like..."

"He is literally going to get it when I see him later!" Lori spat as she drove all of her younger sisters home. "He knows he isn't supposed to just go off someplace without telling anyone! Lisa, do you have your drone-thingy in the air yet?"

"Currently, yes." Lisa answered from the row behind the driver's seat. "I'm honing in on the tracking device I planted on our brother and should have a visual of him soon."

Lori smiled confidently. "Good. It's about time we see just what our brother has been up to."

She pulled into the driveway of their house and hurried her siblings out of the van and into the living room. From there Lisa set up the TV so it showed the live feed from the camera mounted on her surveillance drone. For the first couple minutes there was no image other than the overhead view of Royal Woods. But then the drone descended towards an old warehouse. In the next minute, Lincoln came into view with a teenage girl they didn't recognize. She had shaggy brown hair and a lip piercing. In her hands was a can of spray paint. She began to spray onto the wall outside of the warehouse, writing her name out in large letters.

"I knew it!" Lori exclaimed. "Those new friends are literally the ones to blame for what's going on with Lincoln! When he gets home, he is going to be in for a..."

"Um, Lori?" Lynn cut in.

"What?" Lori asked irritably.

Lynn pointed to the image of their brother on the screen. The sisters all looked and found themselves gasping collectively as they saw that Lincoln was also wielding a can of spray paint. And he was following his friend's lead in writing his name out in large, orange letters on the building.

He was smiling while he did it.

"Oh no...oh no, oh no, oh no no no!" Lori sputtered, tears welling up in her eyes as she sank to her knees. "My baby brother _has_ become a delinquent!"

 **Please review**  
 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

Lincoln smiled as he admired his handiwork on the side of the warehouse. There was something so thrilling about tagging the outer wall of the building. As Lincoln began to giggle nervously Stacy smirked at him.

"What're you so cheery about?" Stacy asked.

"Just look at it." Lincoln said, gesturing to his name. "I just tagged a wall! Isn't it awesome?!"

"I guess." Stacy said as her eyes narrowed at the sight of Lincolns' name on the wall. "We ran out of room on the inside so...It's cool, but I'm not really a fan of the color orange."

Lincoln tossed the can of orange spraypaint to Stacy. "Then give me whatever your favorite color is." he said.

Stacy handed Lincoln a can of blue spraypaint. He shook it hard and began to paint another blank spot on the wall. After a few moment, the word "SAD" was printed on the wall in enormous letters, with a visible frowning face in the space above the bar in the letter "A". Stacy's smirk became a wide grin, making her lip piercing glint in the sunlight.

"Now _that_ is awesome." Stacy said as she slapped Lincoln on the back.

As the two kids admired Lincoln's work, Lisa drone hovered just outside the fence. The Loud Sibling watched in horror at the display of vandalism. Lori stared at the screen blankly as tears began to drop from her eyes. Leni grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her gently.

"Lori?" Leni said "Are...are you OK? Lori?"

"Graffiti!?" Lori said flatly. "Lying, I can handle. Coming home late, no problem. I can deal with the injuries. And I'm even willing to let the atomic wedgie slide .But... GRAFFITI!?"

Lola and Lana burst into tears. "OUR BIG BROTHER IS A CRIMINAL!" they said in unison.

"LINCOLN WILL NEVER SURVIVE BEHIND BARS!" Lola wailed.

"THE COPS WILL ARREST HIM AND MAKE HIM BREAK ROCKS IN JAIL!" Lana screamed.

"Normally I'd be inclinded to dismiss your thoughts as nonsense." Lisa said. "However the evidence appears to be quite concrete. Our brother has clearly fallen in with a group of malcontents and/or delinquents. He could very well soon participate in other acts such as loitering, shoplifting and perhaps even streetfights with other hooligans. I'm sorry to say that incarceration may be something he must endure if nothing is done."

"I literally do not need to hear that!" Lori snipped. "I'm having enough trouble trying to believe what I just saw!"

"My apologies, elder sister." the genius replied. "I do understand what you are going through. Because while I normally refrain from expressing myself emotionally, I...I..." Lisa started to sniffle, followed by a sudden sob as tears burst from her eyes. "I'm scared! I don't want to lose my brother because he was involved in a petty confrontation between neerdowells!"

Lisa sank to her knees and continued to cry, leaving many of her sisters unsure of what to do. Fortunately, Lily crawled over and stood herself up next to her upset roommate. She took her pacifier out of her mouth and stuffed it into Lisa's, instantly stifling her cries. Lisa didn't object to or remove the binky, but simply sat still and tried to calm herself as Lily leaned against her, wrapping her tiny arms around her big sister.

"This never would have happened if we could have kept him from going emo." Lucy coldly muttered.

"This can't be right!" Leni said. "Linky isn't a bad boy! Maybe we're, like, mistaking this or something!"

"Sorry Leni, but I don't think that we are." Lynn said solemnly. "We all just saw it happen. No doubt about it."

"Our brother, a vandal?" Luan said. " _Spray_ it isn't so!"

Nine pairs of eyes locked onto the comedian, all giving her dirty looks.

"Not the time for a pun Luan!" Lori spat.

"I'm sorry!" Luan meekly said. "I just don't know how to deal with this! Puns help me cope!"

"I'm with Leni on this one." Luna said. "There's gotta be something we're missing. Maybe he's doing an art project or something? He could just be practicing right now!"

"By defacing public property?!" Lori asked incredulously. "Face it, Luna. Lincoln is doing something wrong and he doesn't exactly look ashamed of himself! We need to do something about this before it gets worse!"

"Actually he's defacing private property." Lisa said.

With a few fingerstrokes across her tablet, the camera on the drone zoomed in on a nearby sign. The sign read.

"Private Propety. No Trespassing. THIS MEANS YOU!"

Lori groaned in frustration. "Great!" she shouted. "So it's vandalism _and_ trespassing!"

Lisa focused the camera on Lincoln and the girl standing beside him. She was aiming her phone at Lincoln's artwork, trying to shoot it from a good angle. She smirked as she took the picture of the tag.

"I am so making this the background for my computer." she said.

She picked up the cans of spraypaint and led Lincoln inside the warehouse. Lori's eyes were so focused on the TV screen, they might've drilled a hole straight through the glass if she stared any longer.

"Move it in closer, Lisa." Lori said. "I wanna see what he's been up to all this time."

"I don't think I can do that Lori." Lisa said. "The sign states very clearly that trespassing is not allowed. And I do believe that airspace is included as part of the property."

All the sisters groaned. "Oh come on!" Lori said. "He's literally ten feet away!"

"I know that." Lisa said. "Normally I wouldn't break the law. But I suppose in this case, I'm going to have to make an exception."

Lisa carefully maneuvered the drone over the fence and over to the warehouse. The Loud Sisters came in close to the television, trying to move each other out of the way so they could see. The drone entered the doorway to the warehouse to see Lincoln standing there in the entrance. Frowning with a can of spray paint in his hand.

"Nice try, Lisa." Lincoln said looking directly into the camera on the drone.

With one deft movement of his hand, he sprayed the camera lens with orange paint, completely obscuring himself from view. The girls cried out in shock and annoyance.

"And now he's vandalized my drone." Lisa stated distastefully. "Well that's just spectacular. I'm going to have a word with him upon his return home today."

"We all will!" Lori said. "I say we go straight downstairs and wait for him to come through that door!"

A collective cheer sounded from her younger sisters. Excluding Luna, who was not on board with the idea, and Lucy, who was not exactly one for cheering. But all of them descended the stairs to wait for their brother's arrival home, regardless of how long it would take.

A few hours later, ten pairs of eyes snapped over to the front door as Lincoln came home. He was bruised and scraped, just as he had been on the previous days, but Lori took notice of the large bandage on his forehead more than anything else.

"Why am I not surprised?" She said, standing up and crossing her arms. "I'm literally starting to think that you're getting hurt on purpose. Care to explain what happened to you this time?"

Lincoln groaned in annoyance. "I don't suppose just saying 'no' would be enough?" he asked. "I'm fine, Lori. I just got a little bump on the head."

"I'll be the judge of that." She responded, closing the distance between them and quickly peeling off the bandage, revealing a nasty cut. "What did you bump your head on? A piece of broken glass?"

"I said I'm okay! But you know what isn't okay? You guys spying on me! What was that about?!"

"I could ask you the same question, elder brother." Lisa said. "We all observed you participating in that less than reputable act just a short while ago. You defiled that structure, and then also defiled my drone. You should count yourself fortunate that I installed an auto-pilot program to guide it back safely. Otherwise, you'd owe me a new one."

Lincoln opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it and just shook his head. He turned away from his sisters and began to head for his bedroom.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Lori asked.

"To my room. So don't worry about sending a drone in to keep watch on me. I don't plan on doing anything that will make you judge me."

"Well maybe I wouldn't have to judge you if you'd just start being _normal_ again!"

"Screw being normal!" Lincoln spat, continuing upwards. "I'd rather continue being me!"

"This isn't you!" Lori shouted. "The clothes, the attitude, the lies, you're not acting like..."

"Sorry." Lincoln said as he made his way up the stairs. "Can't hear you...you're breaking up."

Lori began to tremble with rage. She ground her teeth and her face turned red and her younger sisters stepped away from ran after Lincoln, stomping upstairs, grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him 's eyes narrowed at the look of fury on his eldest sisters face.

"You know..." Lincoln said. "I have a tube of super glue in my room so I can make your next wedgie a little more permanent."

"Listen and listen good!" Lori said. "I am your big sister and it's my job to look after you! To look out for you! If I think someone is a bad influence on you then you need to listen to me! I only want you to be safe!"

Lincoln stared at her blankly for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Lori cocked an eyebrow. "What?" Lori asked. "You think it's funny that I'm worried about you!? I care about you all and don't want anything to happen to any of you. Don't you know that?!"

Lincoln wiped a mirth induced tear from his eye. "Please." he said. "We both know that all you care about is being the big sister. Feeling like the boss and having everyone and everything under your control. You're only mad at me because I'm doing something you can't interfere in."

"Excuse me!?" Lori said. "I'm mad because you've changed. This isn't about me, it's about..."

"Not about you?" Lincoln interrupted. "Lori, it's always about you! You never do anything without seeing what's in it for you, because all you care about is how you feel!"

"That's not true and you know it, Lincoln!" Lori said. "And it's not the point. It's because you..."

"It is the point!" Lincoln said cutting her off again. "You sabotaged Leni when she was going to get her drivers license. You threatened to break up with Bobby because of a painting. You want Clyde to keep giving you presents just so you can feel good about yourself. And whenever I have something that you want, or do something that you didn't think to do first, you think you deserve to have it just because you're the oldest. Now you're bugging me nonstop about what I'm doing in my spare time, something that is literally _none of your business_ , and you want me to think this isn't about you?"

Lori let go of Lincolns shoulders, her jaw slowly lowering at Lincoln's gall and anger.

"Not about you?" Lincoln repeated venomously "You could care less when you actually know what I'm doing. If you didn't feel so threatened, you wouldn't even give it a second thought! But since you don't know what I'm doing it's all you can think about. Face it Lori, you're nothing but a conceited, control freak who just can't stand when you're not the boss of everything. You're pathetic, Lori! Just pathetic!"

Lori looked as if she'd been slapped across the face "Pathetic?!" Lori she repeated.

"Is there an echo in here!?" Lincoln asked. "Maybe you need a different word? How about pitiful!?"

Lori nervously took a few steps back from Lincoln as their sisters crept up the stairs to listen "What do you have going for you, Lori?" Lincoln went on. "Let's recap. A boyfriend who lives miles away in another state. An eleven year old fanboy who can't talk to you without passing out. Ten siblings who you boss around. And an ego the size of Michigan. I can only imagine how sorry you must feel for yourself for you to think that you need to have power over all those things. You just can't stand the fact that I'm doing something you don't have a say in. Something you can't control or try and take from me."

Lori stepped backward, her foot landing on Lynn's skateboard, sending her falling onto her backside as Lincoln put his face directly in front of hers. "I'm hanging out with my friends." Lincoln said. "That's it. That's all. End of story. I don't need your permission, I don't need your approval, and I don't need you breathing down my neck just because you want to feel better about yourself! So for the last time, keep your nose OUT of my business!"

And with that, Lincoln turned on his heel and walked into his room, shutting the door behind sat there in the hall, jaw hanging open, barely able to get any words out. She slowly got back onto her feet, and with a single, brief glance at her brother's closed bedroom door, she turned and went into her own room, her head hanging and her shoulders slumped.

From their place on the stairs, the other sisters stood in silent awe of their brother's latest outburst. They climbed the rest of the steps and stood in the hallway, many of them looking towards the doorway to their oldest sibling's room. Leni began to move one step at a time to the door, looking inside when she got close enough.

"Lori? Are you okay?" she asked, entering the room.

The other sisters followed Leni and looked in on the scene. Lori was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest and staring down at the floor. Leni was next to her, trying to coax her into saying something, but only getting silence in return. The second oldest child turned to her younger sisters, a worried expression on her face.

"I think she's broken!" Leni whispered.

Lola walked over to the older blondes and snapped her fingers in front of Lori's face. "Hey, Lori! You aren't seriously going to just sit there and let Lincoln get away with what he just said, are you?"

Lori's lower lip trembled slightly and she turned and laid on her side, still with her knees tucked up against her body. She took her pillow and hid her head beneath it, giving Lola her answer.

"I guess you are. Well, I for one am not about to stand for this! I say that the next time he's about to go out again, we just stop him! He doesn't get to go anywhere unless he tells us first!"

"You sure about that, little dudette?" Luna asked. "He hasn't exactly been responding well to everything you've tried so far. Just look at how bad he upset Lori! And besides, how do we know he's even gonna go anyplace?"

"Oh, wait! I just remembered something!" Lynn interrupted. "When I checked Maggie's phone and saw where he was going today, I also saw that she had plans on Sunday. So he might be going somewhere that day."

"Hmmm, that's a maybe. Do you know where he's going?" Lola asked.

Lynn opened her mouth, but then hesitated. "Actually, no. It didn't say. Not too clear on the time either. I think it was some sort of thing with her friends? I can't remember. Sorry."

"Typical." Lola said, rolling her eyes. "Then we just keep watch on him until he's about to leave."

"And then what?" Luan asked.

"Oh, I have something planned." Lola said, grinning devilishly. "You can count on me to stop him."

The following day, just as the morning neared it's end, Lincoln was enjoying a little game time. He was replaying Ace Savvy: Double Dealings on his console down in the living room. It was the second time he played through and he was finding it just as enjoyable as the first, despite that he already knew everything that happened in the story. But he ended up pausing just as he was about to get into the boss fight with Ace's evil clone, his phone vibrated. He set down the controller and picked it up to see a new text from Maggie.

Maggie: Hey, just wanted to let you know that some of us wanted to meet up early today. You don't mind us getting started without you, do you? We need to get as much use of the time we have left. With all the hits you've been taking, I am not going in unprepared tomorrow.

Lincoln: Sure, that's fine. I can be there in a bit. Try not to hurt each other too bad before I get there.

Maggie: No promises.

Lincoln smirked and put his phone into his pocket. He then shut off his game and made his way to the front door. But just before he could reach it, Lola suddenly stepped in front of him.

"Hi big brother! Whatcha doin?" she asked with faux sweetness.

"Going to hang out with my friends." Lincoln stated simply in answer. "Why? Planning on spying on me again?"

Lola giggled, "Oh you are so silly! Nobody is going to spy on you! We don't have to!"

"Oh?" he asked. "And why is that?"

"Because you aren't going anywhere. I won't let you!"

Lincoln snorted. "Good one, Lola. But you know you can't stop me. Or did you forget about that little incident with the gum from the other day?"

"No, I haven't." Lola said, a bitterness entering her voice. "Not that it matters. I had Lana move her gross gum collection somewhere else. So there. But I suppose you could try to yell at me or give me a wedgie like you did with Lori, if you want to risk it. I've been practicing how to cry on cue and if you touch me or say anything mean, I'll start bawling. And just what do you think Mom will do when she sees her sweet, little princess in tears because of _you_?"

"Mom is out shopping for groceries with Dad." Lincoln said. "Besides, I don't have to give you the same treatment as Lori. You're pretty easy to deal with."

"Excuse you?" Lola snipped.

"Here, let me show you." Lincoln said, reaching out towards her. "I promise you won't be hurt."

He picked her up and turned to face the wall next to the door, where the family hung their coats on wall-mounted coat hooks. Standing up on his toes, he reached up enough to hang Lola from one of them by the collar of her dress. The wannabe princess was momentarily stunned, but then began to scowl at her brother and thrash from her place on the wall.

"You did not just do what I think you did!" She shrieked, gaining the attention of her twin who rushed into the room.

"What the...Lola?" Lana asked, looking up at her sister's predicament and then bursting out into laughter.

"IT. ISN'T. FUNNY!" Lola spat angrily. "Lincoln! You get me down this instant!"

Lincoln opened the door, pausing to think a moment. "Hmmm, no. I think not. You didn't ask nicely, Lola. And I have to be going now anyway. Sorry to leave you hanging." He said, smirking at his joke. "Also, you might want to quit it with the struggling, you might end up tearing your dress."

Lola gasped and froze, the worry for her beloved garment quelling her fury. However, the sight of her simply sitting still while hung on the wall was too irresistable for Lana. She took out her phone and snapped a quick pic of her sister, smiling widely as she did so and rekindling Lola's anger.

"LA-NA! YOU HAD BETTER DELETE THAT!"

Lana ran upstairs, leaving Lola to shout at her from the living room. She walked up to Lori and Leni's door, pounding on it with her fist.

"Hey Big L!" Lana said "The Missing Linc has just left. Lisa says she has a new way to track him. Come out and join in!"

"Yeah." Lori said. "I...I'll be there in a minute."

Lori sat on her bed with her knees to her chest as she listened to the sound of Lana's footsteps scampering away. She fiddled with her cell phone for a moment before starting to stand up, only to sit back down as Lincoln's words replayed in her mind.

 **Face it Lori, you're nothing but a conceited, control freak who just can't stand when you're not the boss of everything. You're pathetic, Lori!**

The backs of her eyes began to were beginning to itch. Tears gathered, but she refused to let them fall "I just want him to be safe" Lori thought "How could he say that to me?"

"It's because of those new friends of his." said the voice in Lori's mind " Coming home late, lying to his sisters, getting into fights, tagging 're the ones turning him into a little goon."

 **I don't need your permission, I don't need your approval, and I don't need you breathing down my neck just because you want to feel better about yourself! So for the last time, keep your nose OUT of my business!**

"Even so." Lori said. "Is he right? Do I really have a right to interfere? Am I really just invading his privacy to feel better about myself?"

"Who knows?" said her inner voice "Who cares? Maybe he's right! Maybe this was about you at first, but now it's not. He's been picking on Lola! He gave you a wedgie! He'd never do that to his sisters! Yesterday he tagged a building. What's he gonna do next, rob a convenience store? What kind of big sister would you be if you didn't worry about what's happening him?"

 **You just can't stand the fact that I'm doing something you don't have a say in. Something you can't control or try and take from me.**

Lori's grip tightened on her cell phone. "Should I just let him do this?" Lori said. "I mean...it's his time, and his new friends. What part do I have to play in this?"

"The part of the big sister." her inner voice shouted. "Who loves her siblings and doesn't want anything to happen to them. When you were a kid, you'd throw a fit if someone so much as stepped on Lincoln's foot. Now he's coming home with black eyes, cuts and bruises and you want to leave him alone?"

"No!" Lori said. "No, I do not!"

She got up on her feet and faced the vanity, glaring at her own reflection with fierce determination.

"So, what are you going to do now?" her inner voice asked.

"I'm going to find my baby brother!" Lori proclaimed confidently. "And I'll bring him back home, even if he kicks and screams!"

"Good, and if he tries to stop you? If he tries to give you another wedgie, or anything else?" the voice asked.

Lori scoffed, a cocky grin coming to her face. "I'd literally like to see him try."

"Atta girl. Now go get him!"

With a steadfast attitude and a goal in mind, Lori marched out of her room and down the stairs to join her sisters. Lisa, upon seeing their eldest sibling joining them, walked over and held up her tablet for Lori to see.

"I think that you'll be quite pleased with this." Lisa said. "Since the drone was a bust, I took into consideration a more subtle approach. I sincerely doubt that Lincoln will catch onto us this time."

"I like what I'm hearing. Go on."

"Well, it may be a dishonest method, but I've hacked into Lincoln's phone. If he calls or texts anyone, we'll know and be able to listen in on the conversation. The same is true of him using the phone's camera. And the part that I think you'll find the most appealing it that which I've saved for last. I now have a list of those whom he has been spending so much time with. Taken straight from his phone's contact list."

Lori smirked and reached down to pat her genius little sister in her head. "Very good, Lisa. I literally couldn't have asked for anything more."

"Excuse me." Lola said. "But before we get on with spying on Lincoln I'd like to make a suggestion."

"What's that?" Lana asked.

"THAT SOMEONE GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" Lola screamed with anger from her place on the wall hook.

"But we like you better up there." Lana said.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Get her down, Lana." she said. "She'll keep screaming if she stays up there. so we won't be able to hear through Lincoln's phone."

Lana quietly grumbled to herself as she lifted her twin off the hook as Lisa began frantically tapping and sliding her finger across the surface of her tablet. She grabbed a cord connected to a set of mini speakers and plugged it into the tablet.

"We should have a connection in 3...2...1..." Lisa counted.

A loud staticky nose poured over the speakers for about a minute before a slighty, muffled, but still discernable voice came through.

"...it...can...you..." a voice came over the speakers distorted and blocked by the static.

"Is that Lincoln?" Lana asked.

"Hang on." Lisa said. "I'll clean it up."

She swiped her finger across the screen a few more times before the voice began clear.

"C'mon Maggie." Lincoln said. "Don't cry."

The sisters crowded around the speakers as Lincoln's voice poured through.

"So he's with her right now." Luna said.

"It's really not that bad." Lincoln said. "It'll be healed up in a few days."

"Healed up?" Lynn said. "So he got hurt again? What did they do to him now?"

The sound of sobbing came over the speaker. "It's only a busted lip." Lincoln said. "I'm not crying over it, so you shouldn't be either."

All the sisters gasped at the admission. "Someone literally busted his lip?" Lori asked. "What the heck are they doing?"

"Hgnaaab bluug apllthap." Maggie said, her words garbled through her sobs.

"It's not about that?" Lincoln said. "Well, then what are you crying about?"

"Whoa, whoa." said a clearly male voice. "You actually understood that?"

"It's a girl thing." Lincoln said. "And I have 10 sisters. You pick things up."

The sound of honking blared suddenly, making all the sisters jump a little. Then they heard Maggie's voice again, more clearly this time.

"Okay, so yeah. It is a little bit because you got hurt. But it's also because it isn't the first time! And I'm still freaking out a little about tomorrow too!"

"Aha!" Lynn said, pointing at the speakers. "I knew Sunday was important!"

All of her other sisters hushed her simultaneously.

"Pipe down!" Lori hissed. "I want to hear this!"

Lynn mumbled out a apology while Lori returned her attention to the speakers.

"We cam do bis!" Maggie blurted out. "We habben hab ignouh tibe!"

"Translation?" Asked the male voice from before

"She said we can't do this. We haven't had enough time." Lincoln clarified. "What do you mean? There's no way we aren't ready! We're going to dominate!"

The staticky noise started to come back and the words they were hearing began to get cut off. Although they could hear another honking noise as Maggie blew her nose again.

"No we won't!" Maggie said. "We're not... They're ... so ...er ... ... many more of them...! We'll be dest...ed! Or what if we ... get hurt...we...should just ... ... before we regret it!"

"Dang it!" Lisa muttered, busily tapping on her tablet's screen. "We're losing the signal! Something must be creating interference!"

Lisa kept trying to resolve the issue, but unfortunately lost the connection altogther. The sisters sat in silence once they lost their audio feed of their brother. Lori stood perfectly still, her mind going a mile a minute before she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Get hurt?" she repeated. "And regret what? Just what has Lincoln gotten himself into?!"

"Dude, chill." Luna said. "I'm sure that..."

"DON'T. YOU. DARE!" Lori spat angrily. "I know what I heard, Luna! Our little brother could be getting himself into trouble and we are NOT going to just sit around twiddling our thumbs while it happens!"

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Luan asked. "Whatever it is, it's going to be tomorrow!"

Lori took a breath and started to pace around the room. After a moment a thought came to mind and she turned to face Leni, a smirk coming to her face.

"Leni, weren't you planning on going on a shopping spree tomorrow at the mall?"

"Uh-huh." Leni said with a nod. "I totes need to redo my winter wardrobe."

"Perfect." Lori said. "Well, I hope you don't mind having our brother tag along to help you with all of your bags."

"Everyone!" Lisa said. "I've regained the signal."

The Loud sisters quickly surrounded the speakers again. Static and screeching noises came over the speakers at first, but a voice came clear after a few seconds.

"Maybe we should all just take a break." said Lincoln voice through the speakers. "We've all been run pretty ragged lately."

There were sounds of a agreement coming from several other voices before Maggie's voice came through.

"Maybe you're right." she said as she sniffled lightly. "We should all get some down time today. To take our minds off tomorrow. And for what it's worth, Lincoln...I'm really sorry about your lip."

"It's not a big deal." Lincoln said. "I've come back from worse than this. I'll catch you guys online later."

"He's coming back home!" Lori said. "Everyone go back to what you were doing before."

"So can I put Lola back on the hook?" Lana asked.

"No way!" Lola shrieked. "He already stretched the back of my gown! I don't know if never be able to get the creases out! You might tear it!"

"FOCUS!" Lori shouted. "Once he gets back we have to act like everything is fine. We can't let him catch on to us. Understood?"

All the other Loud Sisters stood up and saluted their eldest sibling. "Ma'am, yes maam!" they said.

 **Please review**  
 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

Lynn, for the first time in her life, found herself unable to focus on the television screen while the sports channel was on. She was feeling less concerned with which team was scoring points or how much time was left on the clock, and more and more interested with the front door. Any second now, she expected her little brother to arrive home. The minute he set foot through the door, she'd be right there to greet him. Her and her trusty softball bat.

Now she knew that Lori had wanted them all to behave normally when he got back. But Lynn was not going to back that play. Someone had hurt her baby brother, and she knew it wasn't the first time. She didn't care what the reason was for it happening, she was not going to let it go. It was time for answers and she would get them from Lincoln no matter what. Sure, he had handled himself against Lola a couple times recently and had even caught Lori by surprise that one time that same week. But Lynn was more than confident that if Lincoln tried to do anything with her that she could take it and then give it right back. Although she really, really doubted he'd try to fight her. He knew better.

The game caught her attention again when the referee was making a call. She watched it briefly, but then turned her gaze back when she heard the door opening. But it was just Lucy and Fangs heading out for a walk now that the sun was starting to set. Lynn sighed and got up, stretching a little. She could go for a snack. Especially if she was stuck waiting for Lincoln for much longer. Heck, if he took long enough she could probably just make an entire spicy sub to wolf down in the meantime.

Lynn entered the kitchen and looked inside of the refrigerator. A container of leftover jalapeño poppers caught her attention immediately. She licked her lips and grabbed them, heading straight to the microwave to heat them up. Once they were hot and ready, she shoved one into her mouth and crunched down on it, loving the flavor that could only be achieved by her father's cooking. With a satisfied smile on her face she returned to the living room to sit back down and as luck would have it, that was the exact moment her brother was coming through the door.

"Hey!" she said, spraying bits of her food out of her mouth. "It's about time! What the heck took you so long?!"

Lincoln wrinkled his nose a little at his older sister's lack of manners. "Why is it any of your business?" he countered. "Mom and Dad say it's okay for me to be out as long as I get home before dark. Or at least get their permission to stay out later. I don't need a babysitter, thank you very much."

Lynn stepped up to him and brought her face close to his, glaring into his eyes. "Watch it, Linc. I'm not gonna put up with your attitude! So do yourself a favor and..."

Lincoln pressed a finger to Lynn's lips, silencing her while returning her glare. "If you don't want me to give you attitude, then you shouldn't be giving me any in the first place! Now if you'll excuse me _junior_ , I want to take a shower before dinner."

He brushed past her,making his way up the stairs. Lynn fumed silently for a moment and then she set down her food in favor of her bat. She then rushed up the stairs after Lincoln, catching him just as he reached the top. Grabbing him by the shoulder, she pushed him over enough that she could stand in his way. She planted the end of the bat firmly onto the floor, standing like a sentry before him, a cocky smile on her face.

"Not so fast, little bro. We haven't finished our little chat yet. Your shower can wait, right?"

She saw his eyes look at her bat for a moment before they met hers again. There was a trace of fear in them. Perfect. Just what she wanted.

"You wouldn't." He said, a touch of nervousness in his voice.

"I won't." she replied. "As long as you just talk to me. So, what's the big deal about tomorrow? I know you got something going on with those new 'friends' of yours. But I really want to know what, where and when."

For a moment, Lincoln looked surprised. But then he just looked really, really angry. His face turned red and he grinded his teeth while clenching his fists.

"SERIOUSLY?!" he spat with a fiery tone. "Spying on me _again_?! Am I even able to go to the bathroom without someone looking over my shoulder anymore?!"

"Hey, we're only doing it for your own good." Lynn defended. "Now just tell me what I want to know and then we can both go and do our own things, okay?"

"NO!" Lincoln defiantly replied. "I am NOT going to tell you anything! Not after having to deal with you guys invading my privacy over and over!"

Lynn lifted her bat and patted it into her open palm. "You sure you don't want to reconsider that, bro?"

"Oh wow, who could have seen _this_ coming?" he said sarcastically. "Lynn Loud isn't getting what she wants, so she has to threaten me with violence! You know what? Go ahead and do it! If you can swing that at me, then just get it over with!"

"Wha...what was that?" Lynn asked, taken aback by his words.

"I said go ahead!" her brother answered with no hesitation at all. "Aim for my mouth and knock out my teeth. I'm not worried about learning what it's like to have to eat everything through a straw!"

Lynn slowly lowered her bat, not even sure what to say to him in response.

"Or maybe my body is where you want to hit me?" he offered as he lifted his shirt " I'm sure you won't crack my ribs right away. And the bruises would be easy to hide."

The teen's jaw dropped, but that didn't keep Lincoln from continuing.

"Oh, I know. How about my kneecaps? I'd _love_ to know to never be able to walk straight again!" he spat with a venomous yet sarcastic tone.

"I...I..." Lynn stuttered out, barely able to process what she was hearing.

"Aren't you going to swing?" Lincoln asked, with a fake smile. "Oh wait. How silly of me. I bet you wanna wait until my back is turned. You know, aim for my spine or the back of my head? Paralysis would be a new experience for me. Or maybe even amnesia. You could hit me and I'd forget all about it, so then you could hit me again."

"Whoa, whoa!" Lynn said, taking a step back "Slow down. I don't want..."

"Oh, now I get it." Lincoln said. "It's not about where you can hit me with the bat. It's just about hitting me hard enough that I fall down the stairs and break my neck. That's it, right Lynn? Swing away and send me falling down like a domino."

"Enough!" Lynn said. "That's not funny Lincoln! I don't want anything like that to happen to you!"

"Then why do you have a bat?" Lincon asked flatly.

Lynn looked down at the wooden club she was holding as Lincoln spoke. "I mean, you know I'm sick of you all spying on me." he said. "And you know I'm not going to tell you anything. So I guess now you're just looking for an excuse to hurt me. Isn't that right?"

Lynn spluttered nervously as the enormity of her threat dawned on her "NO!" she said. "I wasn't going to...I mean I didn't...it's not...you can't really think that I...I mean I know it looks like I was...I was only trying to..."

Lynn's face reddened with frustration. "Forget it!" She said stomping over to her room. "This is stupid!"

She slammed her door shut as Lincoln grinned victoriously. He headed over to the bathroom and started up the shower,closing the door behind him. Once he started the shower, Lori poked her head out of her room. With a tablet under her arm, she walked over to Lynn and Lucy's room and knocked on the door. Lynn opened the door, meeting her eldest sister with a sour look reminiscent of her roommate.

"Were you just talking to Lincoln about what he's been up to? Because I literally remember telling you to just act normal when he got home."

"No." Lynn said glumly. "I mean, I was...but he didn't tell me anything."

Lori gave an angry growl "I told you not to for a reason! He's been getting more and more defensive each time we've tried so far. We need a different approach!"

Lynn lowered her head and appeared to sink her feet into the floor "Sorry." she said sounding downcast "I guess...I guess I didn't really think it through."

"Since when do you ever..."

Lori stopped when she noticed the look on Lynn's face. Along with the sour, moody expression, her eyes had a light red tinge to them and drops of moisture were gathering at thier corners.

"Are you...crying?" Lori asked. "What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Lynn said before shutting the door in Lori's face.

Lori stood there for a moment before turning back to the bathroom "Well whatever Lynn's plan was, it didn't work." she thought. "So I'm going to try my idea now."

She waited outside the bathroom door as Lincoln showered. After about twenty minutes, the door swung open and Lincoln walked out amidst a cloud of steam. Lori coughed as the moist air reached her lungs.

"I was starting to think you'd gotten sucked down the drain." she said.

"Sorry for taking so long." Lincoln said. "Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Not so fast, twerp." Lori said. "I've got something to tell you."

"Look, Lori." Lincoln said. "If this is about what I'm doing in my spare time, then I'll tell you now just what I told you before when..."

"It's not about that." Lori said. "Ronnie Anne called while you were gone. She wants to talk to you."

Lincoln's face brightened as Lori handed him her tablet. "OH!" Lincoln said. "OK. Thanks Lori."

He ran down to his room with the tablet under his arm. "And make sure you put on some clean clothes before you call her!" Lori shouted after him. "A bathrobe is not appropriate attire to wear when you greet your girlfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lincoln called back just before entering his room.

"Sure she isn't." Lori retorted, a playful smirk on her face. "Just like Bobby isn't my boyfriend."

Lincoln rolled his eyes and shut his door. He got dressed in some of his newer clothes, pulling a black shirt over his head with blue lettering on it that read 'I'll be happy later'. Once he was clothed, he turned on Lori's tablet and called Ronnie Anne via video chat. He hopped up on his bed, leaving the tablet set up on his dresser. A moment later, Ronnie Anne's face came on the screen.

"Hey Ronnie Anne." he greeted.

"Hey Lame-oh, wow. That's different. Since when did you stop wearing orange all the time?"

Lincoln shrugged. "Recently. I got them as a gift. What do you think?"

He stood up again so she could get a better view of his outfit and her eyes went up and down as she looked. When she was done she cleared her throat and tried to look uninterested.

"I guess it's okay. It's not exactly a bad look. But you still seem like a dork to me."

"Oh?" Lincoln said. "Well it's good to know I'm keeping to your standards."

"Try not to be too proud of it." Ronnie Anne teased. "I keep them low, just for you."

"Gee thanks." Lincoln joked. "But anyway, you feeling okay? Your face looks a little red."

Ronnie Anne suddenly seemed a bit nervous. She tugged on the collar of her hoodie, a bead of sweat running down her face.

"Well it's just been cold out in our area lately, so my grandma has been keeping the heat up. That's all." She said, unzipping her hoodie and sliding it off to reveal a light purple t-shirt underneath. "So, what's up?"

"You tell me." Lincoln said. "My sister says you were trying to call me. What did you need to talk about?"

"Oh, right. I did." the nervous girl said, faking a smile. "Oh, um, hey. You have a little something on your face." she pointed to her lips, trying to show him where before she took a closer look out of curiosity. "Wait a second. That isn't food. Did someone hit you?"

"What this?" Lincoln asked. "This isn't anything! I got this in a little accident, that's all."

"What kind of accident gives you a busted lip?"

"The kind that involves me not paying attention to what's in front of me while I'm walking."

Ronnie Anne gave him an unamused look. "You were walking and reading comics at the same time again, weren't you?"

Lincoln rubbed his arm, looking away from the tablet. " ...maybe"

"You dork!" Ronnie Anne chided. "Be more careful from now on!"

"Look who's talking, miss 'I want to try and skateboard off the back of a flatbed truck'!"

Ronnie Anne snorted. "Oh come on!" she said. "I only did that once!"

"And what about all the times you practiced skateboarding inside?" Lincoln said. "Didn't you say 'I fell so many times my butt felt like raw hamburger meat'?"

Ronnie Anne grabbed her backside and shuddered. "Don't remind me." she said. "So I guess neither of us are very coordinated."

Lincoln blew her a rapberry, which she returned. "So, Lincoln." she said. "What's been going on with you lately? Anything new?"

"I guess you could say that." Lincoln said. "I've made some new friends and..."

"New friends?" Ronnie Anne asked. "So is that where the dark clothes came from?"

"Yes." Lincoln said. "They all dress like this so..."

"So what do you like to do with your new friends?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Play video games, read comics?"

"We play video games sometimes." he said. "But mostly we just hang out and chat about..."

"What?" Ronnie Anne cut him off. "What do you like to chat about?"

"Whats the deal, Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln said. "What's with all the questions?"

"I haven't talked to you in a while." Ronnie Anne said as she began to twist her ponytail around her fingers. "I'm curious about what you've up to lately."

"Well it's nothing all that interesting." Lincoln said. "We just hang out and..."

Lincoln stared at her blankly, his eyes narrowing as he watched her twist her ponytail around her fingers. "Hang out and what?" Ronnie Anne asked. "What? What are you staring at?"

"You're playing with your ponytail." he said

"Yeah, so?"

"I've only ever seen you do that when you're nervous about something." he said. "Like when we had that math test you forgot to study for. Or the time your broke your mom's favorite picture frame. Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm...not nervous." she said as her eyes began to dart around.

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?" Lincoln asked.

"No." Ronnie Anne said as beads of sweat began to gather on her forehead. "I'm not hiding anything."

Lincoln's face set into a frown. "DON'T YOU LIE TO ME RONALDA ANNE SANTIAGO!" he said. "OUT WITH IT!"

Ronnie Anne bit down on her lower lip for a moment before giving a sigh of defeat. "Try not to be too mad at me, ok?" she said.

Lincoln folded his arms across his chest. "We'll see." he said. "Now spill."

"When I called earlier, Lori talked to me." Ronnie Anne said. "She said you'd been coming home late, acting out, dressing really weird, and refusing to talk to anyone about it. She...sort of asked me if I could get you to tell me what you've been up to lately."

Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose. "Those guys just don't know when to quit." he thought as he stood up before turning back to the tablet. "Just hang on a second, Ronnie Anne. I'll be right back."

Lincoln left his room, went through the hall and stopped in front of Lori and Leni's door. Reaching up to the keypad beside the door, he typed in the numbers 2-6-2-2-9. There was a beep and a small light near the keypad changed to red to green. With one swift movement of his foot, Lincoln kicked the door open. Startled from her seat atop her bed, Lori dropped her phone onto the floor.

"Lincoln!?" Lori said "What do you think you're..."

"You got a lot of nerve!" Lincoln said hotly. "Asking Ronnie Anne to pry into what I'm doing? That's low, Lori!"

Lori looked from her door to her brother. "How did you even get..." she began.

"With the access code." Lincoln said. "26229. It's spells BOBBY on the keypad. Next time pick something that isn't so obvious."

"I'll keep that in mind." Lori said. "Now..."

"Now _what_ Lori?" Lincoln interrupted. "You want me to 'get out of your room?' Well I want you to stay out of my business! I can't even begin to tell you how sick of it I am! Do yourself a favor and just give it up already! Because if you don't, I just may decide to send Bobby a few pictures of you from your 'awkward' years."

Lori let out a startled gasp. "You literally wouldn't!"

"I _literally_ would." Lincoln replied. "And don't think I'll stop there either! I know your baby book has plenty for me to work with too!"

He turned to leave, taking advantage of Lori's stunned silence. But as he was turning, he had a painful muscle spasm in his calf and he stumbled over, letting out a short cry. Lori was at his side instantly and she knelt down to check on him. But as she began looking him over, he pushed her away harshly.

"Lincoln, I'm just trying to help you!"

"I don't need your help!" he spat back. "Not with this or anything else! Look! I'm fine!"

Lori planted her hands firmly on her brother's shoulders. "No, no you aren't. And I'm only doing what I know is best for you, little brother. Trust me."

Lincoln knocked Lori's hands away and grabbed her collar, pulling her face close to his "Trust you?" Lincoln repeated. "Why the heck should I trust you when you clearly don't trust me?! That's it, I'm giving you just one last warning, Lori Loud. Butt out of my business or so help me I will literally turn you into a human pretzel!"

Lori's jaw dropped at the threat as he let go of her collar and slipped and then out the door, turning to glare at her one more time. Then he slammed the door behind him and made his way back to his room. Lori resisted the urge to follow him, but only barely so. Despite how much she disliked how he had been acting, she knew that it was best to just let it go for the time being. Just because her plan that day hadn't gone as she had hoped didn't mean she had lost. There was still tomorrow. That was the one she wasn't going to fail. She was certain of it.

Back inside of his room, Lincoln shut his door and sat back in his seat. He let out a heavy sigh and then looked at Lori's tablet, seeing the video chat with Ronnie Anne was still open and the girl was waiting.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"No." Lincoln said grouchily. "I can't believe you just jumped in on their meddling like that! Did you know Lori and my other sisters have been on my case all weeK?"

"Hey, to be fair, I was worried about you too! When Lori told me what was happening with you..."

"Oh please, I bet she exaggerated! She's being ridiculous and so are you if you but any of it!"

Ronnie Anne frowned and crossed her arms. "Well excuse me! Didn't know you were going to be such a crab about it!"

Lincoln sighed again. "Look, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I've just had a long week and my sister enlisting you to try and pry into my life like that just really got to me. I'm sorry, really."

"It's fine Lame-O. I'm sorry too. I'll let you go so you can have a little alone time and relax, okay? I'll see you later."

"See you later." Lincoln said, offering a small smile just as the call ended.

Ronnie Anne shut her laptop and climbed into her bed. She picked up her orange stuffed hippo and gave him a squeeze. Part of her regretted agreeing to help out Lori. She wasn't exactly thrilled to have Lincoln of all people giving her attitude like that.

"He's just lucky that we live in different states now." she told her stuffed companion as she felt her face get warm "And that he looks so cute when he's mad. He looks pretty good in black clothing too."

Lincoln lay back on his bed, enjoying the silence of his room. His thoughts swirled around in his head like a blender set on its highest setting. He buried his face in his pillow, groaning in frustration.

"Why can't they just leave me alone?" Lincoln thought. "Why can't they just trust me?"

He grumbled quietly for a moment before turning onto his back and staring at his ceiling. "Just one more day." he thought. "One more day and it'll be over."

He lay there for a few minutes, his muscles aching, until he heard a sound.

Vrr-mmmm Vrr-mmmm Vrr-mmmm

Lincoln was startled buy the feeling of his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the text he just recieved from Maggie.

"Are you at home right now?"

"Yes." he replied.

"Good." Maggie texted back. "I'm on my way over. I've got something for you."

"What is it?"

"You'll see when I get there."

KNOCK KNOCK

Lincoln stuffed his phone back into his pocket as he looked over at the door.

"Who's there?" Lincoln asked.

"Ima." said Luan's voice.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Ima who?"

"Ima just letting myself in!" Luan said as she opened the door.

Lincoln groaned as a giggling Luan stepped into his room. "What do you want, Luan?" he asked.

"Well someone's cranky." Luan said. "Can't a big sister just have a chat with her little brother?"

"That depends." Lincoln said. "Is it about a subject that you know I don't want to talk about?"

"Maybe?" Luan said with a shrug.

"Then no you can't." Lincoln said. "Now go away."

"C'mon Lincoln." Luan said. "If you tell me, I promise not to tell our sisters."

Lincoln shook his head. "You have your secrets and you don't see me trying to dig them up, do you?" he asked.

"Well, none of my secrets involve coming home late." Luan said. "Or getting hurt or blatantly lying to my family."

"Well I wouldn't have to lie if you guys would just drop it already." Lincoln said.

"We can't do that, Lincoln." Luan said. "We're your sisters and its our job to look out for you. So if you're not gonna tell me what you've been doing on your own, then I'll just have to resort to..."

Luan pulled a feather from behind her back and smiled slyly. "...other methods."

"Oh no." Lincoln said, eyeing the yellow plume.

"Oh, yes." Luan said, closing in on him. "Last chance to be honest with me, Lincoln."

Lincoln gulped, but didn't give into his sister's demand. He steeled himself for what was to come, a determined look on his face.

"Do your worst."

"Okay." Luan said. "But remember, you asked me to!"

She swooped down on him without a moment's hesitation. He tried to dodge, but was too late. Luan pinned him down and lifted up his shirt, exposing his belly. Lincoln squirmed, but the next thing he knew, the tip of the feather had made contact and the first of several laughs came forth. The boy doubled his efforts to squirm free, now driven by the feel of the feather dancing on his skin.

"Aw, you have such nice laugh." Luan said, smirking deviously at him. "It almost makes me not ever want to stop. But I will, _if_ you just tell me what I want to know."

"N-ha! Ha! Nev-ha ha ha! Never!" Lincoln wheezed out between laughs.

Luan shrugged. "Okay, but you'll change your mind soon enough. No one can put up with this for long, but I can keep going and going and going until you're ready to talk."

She sped up the movement of the feather on her brother's tummy. His laughter grew louder, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He could feel himself reaching his limit. Luan was right, he wouldn't be able to take much more of this.

Fortunately for him, just as he was nearly about to crack, the door to his room opened. Lisa entered, looking a tad irritated.

"Forgive the intrusion." she said. "But if you don't mind, I'm attempting to create an agarose gel with which I can conduct an electrophoresis. I implore you to cease and desist with this tomfoolery at once."

Luan stopped tickling Lincoln and looked up at Lisa. She gave the younger brunette an unsettling smile and she held the feather up for her to see.

"Oh, I'm sorry little sis. Did you want some of this?" she asked, rolling the feather in her fingers.

Lisa's stern demeanor suddenly crumbled and she slowly backed out of the room, eyeing the feather warily. "Um, no. No thank you. I'll just show myself out. As you were."

She shut the door as she left and Luan returned her attention to Lincoln. But in the time she had stopped tickling him, he had caught his breath and quickly reached up to snatch the feather from her. By the time she realized what had happened, he had already managed to switch their positions and was relentlessly tickling her belly now.

"Lin-ha ha! Linco-ha ha ha ha! Stop!" she begged.

"What's the matter, Luan? Can't handle a taste of your own medicine?"

"C-C'mon" Luan cried out "I-heh...I only-ha ha-want to...ha ha ha help you"

"It's not helping if I don't need it" Lincoln said "Now promise you'll leave me alone?"

"I..ha ha...I can't" Luan said

"Suit yourself" Lincoln said as he brought the feather up to her face, making Luan snort and sneeze through her laughter

"N-no! Ha ha ha! Stop it! Please! Ha ha! You're gonna...HA... you're gonna make me..."

PBBBLLLLAAABBBBBPPTTT

The sudden sound was accompanied by a strong smell which made Lincoln drop the feather in favor of covering his nose.

"Holy schmoly!" he commented. "That's just as bad as Lynn's!

Luan blushed and got up. "Sorry about that. I had the three bean salad Dad made for lunch today. Whoo!" She said, fanning a hand behind her. "Excuse me!"

Lincoln pinched his nose with one hand and pointed the feather at her with the other "Believe me, Luan" he said. "There is no excuse for you."

He got behind his older sister, dropping the feather and planting the now free hand onto her back. Luan felt him start pushing her towards the hall and she complied. When they were both out, she turned to face him and saw he had a sour expression.

"And now I have to let my room air out." Lincoln said.

"Hey." Luan said. "It was an accident. You don't need to make such a big stink over it!"

Luan burst into giggles for a moment. "But seriously, sorry about that. And for the tickling."

"Yeah yeah yeah." Lincoln said as he made his way over to the stairs. "Just please lay off me and the 3 bean salad for a while."

As Lincoln walked down he stairs and into the livingroom, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out to read the new text.

"My mom and I are waiting on the corner. Come meet us there"

"I'm heading outside for a bit." Lincoln said as he pocketed his phone "Be right back."

Lincoln headed towards the door and pulled it open, only to find his twin sisters standing there. Both looked up at him with a large, unnerving smiles on thier faces.

"Hi Lincoln." they said in unison.

"Hey guys." he said. "Could you move out of the doorway? I need to go outside."

"What for?" they asked together.

"None of your beeswax." Lincoln said. "Now please move."

"Are you going to see your new friend?" they asked.

"Maybe." Lincoln said. "Now I need to get..."

"Can we come too?" they asked.

"No you can't come!" Lincoln said. "Now move."

"PLEEEASE?" they begged.

They looked up at their older brother with the saddest, most adorable looks they could manage. Their bottom lips quivering, and tears beginning to creep from the corners of their eyes. Lincoln felt an uncomfortable feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach as he struggled to look away. The undeniable cuteness his sisters were displaying would make him cave into thier request unless he did something. Thinking quickly, Lincoln pointed behind them.

"Hey, it's the ice cream truck!" he yelled.

Lola and Lana gasped and ran toward the sidewalk "Ice cream!" they cheered.

Lincoln allowed himself a satisfied smile and was about to proceed out the door. But then Leni sped out of the kitchen and ran past him to get outside. "Yay for ice cream!"

Lincoln watched as his sisters ran. "Wow." he thought. "That worked better than I thought it would."

The three girls ran out to the sidewalk, looking up the street in anticipation, but they saw nothing. They looked up the other end of the street to see Lincoln running up the sidewalk. Lola and Lana's jaws dropped.

"Dang it! He tricked us!" Lana said.

"That was really cheap, Lincoln." Lola shouted after him.

"So, like, does that mean no ice cream?" Leni asked.

Lincoln ran until he could see a familiar van parked at the end of the street. He slowed down and stopped to catch his breath for a moment as the side door to van slid open. Maggie stepped out with a brown paper wrapped package under her arm.

"You're...looking...better." Lincoln said between gasps for breath.

"A good cry does wonders for your attitude when you're stressed." Maggie said. "How's your lip?"

"A little sore." he said. "But otherwise fine. The bruises and muscles cramps are what I've really been having trouble dealing with."

"With all the abuse you've been taking lately, that's not surprising." Maggie said. "But anyway, I have something for you."

Maggie handed Lincoln the package she was holding. As he took it, and looked over the brown paper and scotch tape that help the package together, neither of them noticed the small, dark haired figure with a bat perched comfortably on her shoulder, watching safely from behind a tree.

"What have we here?" Lucy wondered.

With the darkness as her cover, Lucy crept closer and took cover behind one of the large mailboxes that the post office had on the corner. She was still out of Lincoln's line of vision, but now close enough to catch what he was saying. But she wasn't able to overhear too much before Lincoln bid farewell to his 'friend' and the van drove off. Then Lincoln began sneaking back to the house, Lucy secretly following.

As he entered the yard, Lincoln ducked down and went around to the back. Lucy did as well, keeping a fair distance away. Lincoln snuck in through the back door and Lucy waited a minute before approaching, peeking through the doggie door to see if her brother was still in the kitchen. Seeing the coast clear, she opened the door and let herself into the house. She pulled out her cell phone and sent a group text to all of her sisters.

"Just saw Lincoln with his new girlfriend. Heard them talking about tomorrow. I'll share it with you as soon as we can all meet." 

**We're almost at the end, everyone**

 **Please review**

 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 9)**

Lucy lay back on Leni's bed, her arms crossed over her chest, staring up at the ceiling as her sisters crowded around of them had the same look of anticipation on their face.

"Well" Lori said. "What did you find out?"

"Tomorrow." Lucy said. "Lincoln is going to meet Maggie at the street corner at 5 o clock. He's riding with her to whatever is going to happen."

Lynn leapt onto the bed. "Did you find out what he's been doing".

"No." Lucy said flatly. "I just heard the time. She's picking him up at five because whatever he's been doing starts at six."

"Did you at least find out what's going on tomorrow?" Lynn asked.

"Sorry, but no." Lucy said. "I don't think they said anything about it. Or at least if they did I didn't hear it".

"Dang it!" Lola said. "I can't believe how hard it is to find out! And after we all tried to get him to talk too!"

"Yeah, I know right?" Luan said. "I really _blew_ my chance!"

She laughed at her pun, but only got blank stares from all of her sisters.

"Uh...well, if you had been there you'd think that was funny."

"I literally doubt it." Lori said. "But aside of that, I say that we don't need to worry about where it is Lincoln is going tomorrow. Now we know when he needs to leave and we can work with that. It's a good thing that there's no school tomorrow. Do you girls feel up to spending as much time with our brother as possible?"

Some of the other sisters nodded immediately, figuring out her intentions with no trouble at all. Their minds were already filling with ideas for the upcoming morning and the many ways they could keep Lincoln occupied. Lucy sat up, a small smile coming to her pale face as she looked up at Lori.

"I have an idea. Do you think it would be alright if I had the t.v. tonight? Or should I say, Lincoln and I?"

Lori smiled back at her spooky little sister. "If you're going where I think you're going with this, then you two can literally have it as long as you like."

Lucy got off of the bed and left the room while the others began to discuss what they could do the following day. The gothic Loud walked to the opposite end of the hall and knocked on her brother's ajar door. When she got no answer she gently pushed the door open. She would just wait for him to come back to talk to him. And in the meantime she could just take a seat on his bed. She knew he wouldn't mind.

But just as Lucy was about to sit down, she noticed that the brown paper package she had seen Lincoln holding earlier was on his bedspread. Unfortunately it was empty, but now she was curious and started to look around the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he must've stowed whatever it was away somewhere. Considering that the empty package wasn't that big, her first thought was to look in his junk drawer.

"Let's see what we have in here." she thought as she started to carefully dig through the disorganized contents of the drawer. After a moment she found something and pulled it out. At first glance it looked like a little plush doll of Lola, one with a couple of pins in it's bottom. The sight of it was enough to bring another small smile to Lucy's face.

"Oh...I wondered where this was. I forgot I lent it to him."

She set it back and continued her search and soon found a second doll. This one resembled Lori and had multiple pins driven into it's rear end. Lucy looked at the object with a bit of confusion.

"Wait...I didn't make a doll of Lori yet...Did I?"

The sound of her brother's voice caught her attention and she quickly put the doll away and shut the drawer. Then she sat on Lincoln's bed and folded her hands in her lap, looking as though she had been patiently waiting for him. When he walked in, she turned to face him and then got off of his bed.

"Hey Lincoln. Hope you don't mind that I let myself in, but I wanted to see you."

"Oh, sure. What's up Lucy?" he asked.

"Nothing really, I was just wondering if you wanted to watch some t.v. with me. Before anyone else gets to it, that is."

"Sure." Lincoln said, smiling. "I think ARRGH! is going to be on soon. Would you be up for watching that with me? We can watch anything you want afterwards."

Lucy nodded, the corner of her mouth tugging up slightly. "Works for me."

Lincoln and Lucy walked downstairs and headed over to the couch. "You know," Lincoln said. "I'm a bit suprised you wanted to watch ARGGH!"

"Why is that?" Lucy asked as she sat down.

"Well, I did try to get you to come ghost hunting with me once." Lincoln said. "And you said that ghosts were your friends so..."

"They are." Lucy said. "But I already know that this show is staged so it doesn't matter."

"What makes you think ARGGH! is fake?" Lincoln asked.

"I watched the episode where Hunter supposedly catches the ghost Mary Morton, the barista at the haunted coffeeshop" Lucy said "Great Grandma Harriet told me that she knows her personally. Mary's still behind the counter waiting to serve her next customer."

"So?"

"So, the entire episode, Hunter was running all over the coffeeshop, right by Mary's spirit many times and ignoring her while pointing out that she was doing other things. Mary was just shaking her head at him and the mess he and his crew were making."

Lincoln snorted. "Wow, that's kinda funny. I mean, just thinking about it makes me want to laugh."

"It's just too bad he can't see spirits like I do." Lucy said. "I actually feel a little bad for him."

"Hey, can you tell me if you see any real ghosts while we watch the episode?" Lincoln asked hopefully.

"Sorry, but I don't think they show up on camera. But I'll let you know if I do."

Lincoln turned the television on and changed the channel to find ARGGH! He was pleased to find that there were three back to back episodes running. Lucy was equally pleased with this turn out. Now she could keep Lincoln occupied for a little longer. And once all three episodes were over, she could move onto the next stage of her plan.

The ninety minutes of episodes and commercial breaks passed by more quickly than Lincoln would have liked. As the ending credits for the show rolled, accompanied by the theme playing. Lincoln lifted the remote again and started to flip through the channels.

"What are you looking for?" asked Lucy.

"Your favorite show." Lincoln answered. "Since we watched mine, it's only fair that you can watch the 'Vampires of Melancholia'."

"It's not on tonight." Lucy said with a sigh. "But that's okay. There are other things we can watch. You like zombie movies, right?"

"Do I ever! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Zombie. Movie. Marathon." Lucy said, a tiny bit of joy entering her voice.

With a wide grin, Lincoln hopped from the couch and dug out a few of his all time favorite films featuring the living dead. He put his first selection into the DVD player and scampered off to the kitchen for some snacks and juice boxes. When he returned, he shut off the lights and rejoined his little sister just before the first scene began.

A couple hours later, the two siblings had finished most of their snacks and were well into the second movie. But by this time, Lucy was beginning to feel a bit drowsy. She hadn't planned on that when she thought of trying to keep Lincoln up late. Now, she was beginning to see the flaw in her strategy.

"Starting to get tired, Luce?" Lincoln asked.

Lucy shook her head, both to answer and to try and keep herself awake. She couldn't fall asleep yet. She needed to keep him up as long as she could. But she wasn't sure how long she could fight it. While she loved the night, she was still unable to deny her body's need for rest at her young age. Regardless of that, she would still try her best.

"Hey, you don't need to force yourself to stay awake you know." Lincoln said. "We can always continue this another time."

"I'm fine." Lucy said. "I want to keep watching tv with you. I mean...you haven't been around much lately and we hardly ever do anything together anyway so..."

Lincoln felt that familiar pang of guilt in his chest, she had a point. Even though they were close, he hadn't been around much since he had started hanging out with Maggie. Lincoln sighed in exasperation, as a big brother he had to do what was best for his sister. He shrugged.

"Well if that's how you feel." he said as he got off the couch.

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked.

"The kitchen." Lincoln said. "I'm thirsty. Can I get you something? Iced tea, lemonade, soda?"

"Anything's fine." Lucy said.

Once Lincoln went into the kitchen, she moved over to the far end of the couch to listen to what he was doing. Expecting to hear him making a phone call, instead she heard the sounds of glasses clinking and water running. The sounds of him washing a pair of cups.

"Hmm." Lucy thought. "I guess he was serious about being thirsty."

Lucy went back to staring at the screen. As she waited, her eyelids began to droop from behind her bangs. She bit the inside of her cheek, the pain helping her eyes stay open.

"C'mon Lucy." she said to herself. "You can do this."

After a few minutes, Lincoln came back with two cups in his hand. He sat back down beside Lucy and handed her a cup.

"Here you go" he said.

"Thanks" she said taking a gulp of the drink .

The liquid rolled down her throat into her stomach, the heat making her entire body feel warm. She yawned as her whole body began to relax. She took another drink from her cup, and began to feel even warmer as her eyelids began to droop again.

"Lincoln" she said. "What...what kind of drink is this?"

"Warm milk with honey" Lincoln said as he drank from his cup. "Don't worry, its the dark, kind of bitter honey that I know you like."

"But..." Lucy's words wavered on her lips as her body rocked back and forth. "But Lincoln...you...you know...that w-warm milk makes...it...it m-makes me..."

Lucy dropped her cup, the small remainder of liquid spilling out on the carpet, and fell over onto her side, snoring quietly. Lincoln smirked at the sight of his sleeping sister before spreading her out onto the couch. He grabbed her arms, crossed them over her chest, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Rest in peace, Lucy." he whispered into her ear before quietly walking back upstairs.

On the way back to his room, he pulled out his cellphone and checked to see if he had gotten any texts while he had been enjoying his time with Lucy. There were none, but he couldn't help but wonder how Maggie was doing. Even though he had just seen her not too long ago, he knew that she was still probably very anxious. He opened his contact lists and selected her name to send a message.

Lincoln: Hey, just wanted to check in on you. Still feeling nervous at all?

Maggie: A little, but I should be good to go. You?

Lincoln: I'm definitely nervous. But I know you and the others have my back. So I'm not planning on backing out no matter what.

Maggie: That's good. I just hope that you don't get hurt. You've gotten a black eye, a busted lip, more bruises and scrapes than I want to count. Plus you've been sore and tired almost every day thanks to us being so tough with you. I still don't get why you haven't just quit with all the crap you've put up with. I know it hasn't been easy for you.

Lincoln: Aw, you do care about me! You're such a sweetie.

Maggie: Ha ha ha. That's so funny...not.

Lincoln: Well excuse me for thinking that you care. I didn't realize you were so hollow inside.

Maggie: That's better. I think we may be rubbing off on you. Careful, you might start frowning more often than smiling.

Lincoln: That might not be so bad. You frown often enough it kinda scares me when you do smile.

Maggie: You're lucky I'm not in the same room as you, smart guy. I would give you such a pinch for that one.

Lincoln smirked to himself. He was starting to get why the other emo kids liked to poke fun at Maggie and him. Heck, he kind of understood why his sisters liked to tease him too, at least some of it anyway. Next time one of them made a jab at him, maybe he would have a good comeback ready. Depending on the sister, of course. Some of them could dish it out, but weren't quite so good at handling it themselves.

Getting comfortable on his bed, Lincoln continued to text Maggie for a while. While he waited for her replies, he picked out a few comics to read later on before he went to sleep. And while he was occupied in his room, his sisters had moved downstairs to find Lucy snoozing softly, occasionally letting out sighs of contentment.

"So...looks like her plan to keep Lincoln up didn't work out like she had planned." Lori noted.

"Yup. Spooky little dudette couldn't keep her peepers open." Luna added.

"Oh, well. That's fine. It's just a minor setback." Lori said. "Lynn, take her upstairs and then get ready for bed yourself. Same with the rest of you. We all need to be up early tomorrow."

Her younger sisters all nodded and Lynn carefully scooped up Lucy. She carried her up to their room and set her down on her bed. The athlete then took off Lucy's shoes and tried to get her covers out from underneath her, accidentally making the pale girl stir a little.

"Oops." Lynn thought. "Maybe I should have put her on my bed and pulled her blanket back first."

Lucy rubbed her eyes and turned over onto her side. She moaned a little and then Lynn heard her talking in her sleep.

"Rocky, don't...bad werewolf...don't stake Silas in the heart..."

"Aww. She's having her favorite spooky dream again! That's so cute!...I think." Lynn whispered before shrugging. "Whatever. Sleep tight, Luce. Good effort."

Lynn tucked Lucy in and then crept out to go and brush her teeth. She cast a brief look at Lincoln's room, feeling a pang of guilt from her actions earlier. Part of her wanted to go and talk to him, but it might have been better to let him be for now. She could talk to him tomorrow. Until then, she...she wanted more time to think.

The rest of the night progressed slowly. Each of the Loud siblings went about their nightly rituals and got into bed for some much needed rest. Lincoln had a little trouble though, thanks to the nervous feeling he was dealing with. Even though he had been texting Maggie to make sure she was okay, he had also been doing it to help himself. His worries for the upcoming day buzzed around in his mind for a while, but he finally found sleep before long. It was just a good thing that he didn't need to get up early tomorrow.

It was a shame that it didn't keep him from being woken up early.

The first thing that Lincoln heard the following morning was his door being slammed open. He sat up with a start, his eyes wide. His twin sisters ran into the room, Lana climbing onto his bed and squirming behind him to hide from Lola.

"Lincoln, make her stop!" Lana said.

The boy let out a groan. "Make her stop what?" he asked.

"Lola keeps trying to give me a makeover!" The plumber said, pointing accusingly at her twin.

"Well I was gonna try it while you were still asleep but you kept rolling over and kicking the hairbrush out of my hand. and your sleep farting was WAY too much for me to handle." Lola said. "Now hold still, or this will take longer than it needs to! I have a lot to do and you fussing isn't helping either of us!"

Lincoln pushed the twins apart. "C'mon guys." he said. "It's too early for this!"

"Then tell her to hold still!" Lola said.

"No way!" Lana said. "You tell her to back off!"

Lincoln grabbed the twins by the scruff of their necks like a pair of kittens. "OK! OK!" he said, raising his voice. "That's enough out of you two!"

"What's the big deal, Lincoln?" Lola said. "Why do you care if I give her a makeover? Didn't you get a makeover just a few days ago?"

"I did." Lincoln said. "And it was my choice. I could've stayed in my old style but I didn't because I didn't want to. If Lana wants to keep her style then you should let her."

"Well, what about me?" Lola asked. "What if I want to give her a makeover?"

"Is that really what you want?" Lincoln said. "To put so much time and effort into making Lana look beautiful when she's just gonna wallow in the mud as soon as you get finished?"

Lola frowned at the thought of all her hard work going to waste. "No.." she said. "But...I still want to..."

He bought the princess wannabe up to his eyes. "Do you want to go back on the coat hook?" he asked.

Lola's frown deepened. "NO!" she said .

"Good." Lincoln said putting them both down. "Now, you apologize to Lana."

"Apologize?" Lola said. "For what? Trying to make her look beautiful? That's nothing to be sorry for. She should..."

"Coat...hook!" Lincoln said with finality.

Lola's face went pale. "I'm sorry Lana."

With a smile,he reached out and ruffled thier hair. "Much better."

There was a pounding at Lincoln's door. Before he could ask who it was, the door swung open, revealing the sour look on the face of his eldest sister. "What's going on in here?" she asked.

"Just another early morning argument." Lincoln said pointing to the twins. "But it's all settled now."

"Good." Lori said. "As long as you're up, can you give me a hand on making breakfast?"

Lincoln bit back a yawn. "Sure." he said. "I might as well."

Lincoln followed Lori out of his room, downstairs into the kitchen. Leaving Lola and Lana behind in his room, smirking.

"Our plan to get him up early worked like a charm." Lola said. "All we had to do was argue."

"Good idea pretending to try and give me a makeover." Lana said. "You made it really convincing."

Lola began to sweat a bit. "Uh...right." she said. "I was...pretending."

Lana narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her twin for a moment. But she let it go and went to head downstairs for some early morning cartoons. Once she had found the channel she wanted, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a box of apple juice from the fridge. Before she returned to the living room, she stopped to look up at her big brother and sister while they busily began preparing breakfast.

"Hey, can I eat my breakfast in the living room today?" She asked.

"No." Lori said simply. "You know that Mom and Dad don't want you doing that anymore. Not after they found a spilt bowl of cereal between the couch cushions."

"But I want to watch..."

"No buts. No eating in the living room!" Lori said. "Now shoo! We literally can't be cooking with you distracting us!"

Lana pouted and turned to leave. Lincoln set down the eggs he had been preparing and went to tap her on the shoulder.

"Hey, how about you just pause your show when it's time to eat? Then you can pick up where you left off after you're done. I won't let anyone touch the remote, okay?"

The six year old nodded, a bright smile coming to her face. She scampered off to take her seat on the couch, leaving her siblings to their cooking. Lincoln turned to look at Lori, giving her a small frown.

"You didn't have to be so mean about telling her 'no', Lori."

"Hey, she didn't listen the first time so I put my foot down. And don't think you can just tell me that after you did the same thing with Lola this morning. I heard that much before I came into your room."

"That was different! Lola was chasing Lana around even though she knew that Lana didn't want a makeover. All Lana wanted just now was to eat while she watches some t.v."

Lori sighed. "Lincoln, listen. I get that you're only trying to stick up for your little sister. But the rules are the rules. And I help enforce the rules, even if I don't like them. You have to accept that because if you break the rules, I can punish you. And even if I couldn't, Mom and Dad literally can. So in a way, I'm doing something nice for her by not being nice. Get it?"

"Um, I think so?" Lincoln said. "But my point still stands. You didn't need to treat Lana like that! She would have listened if you had said it without the attitude."

"Maybe, maybe not." Lori said with a shrug. "I'm going to keep doing things my way. And tough luck for anyone who dislikes it."

"Because you won't listen even if they have the right to complain?" Lincoln asked.

The blonde teen gave her brother a steely glare. He returned it in kind, standing up on his toes a little to better meet her gaze. She went back to scrambling eggs for Lynn, a small smile coming to her face.

"You know, that attitude of yours has been a bit of a thorn in my side. But, I think I'm starting to like it, just a little. It's a bit of a relief."

"It is?" Lincoln asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You're being more assertive. Standing up for yourself. Sure, I don't like it when you give me the attitude, but at least now I don't have to worry so much about you being bullied at school. Not after that atomic wedgie I got."

Lincoln gave a self satisfied laugh. "Yeah," he said. "You had that one coming for a while."

"A while?" Lori said, reaching for the salt and pepper. "So what...you've been wanting to give me a wedgie for a long time?"

"Ever since you came out of your awkward stage." Lincoln said. "Back then you were sweet all the time. Then you get your braces off, switch your glasses for contact lenses and your acne starts to clear up, and all of a sudden you think you're Queen of the Whole freaking Universe."

Lori slowly set the spices down on the counter. "Oh...really?" she asked.

"Yeah." Lincoln said. "I mean sure, back then you sounded just like Lisa, and you were always nervous, but at least you were fun to be around. At least I didn't have to brace myself for snarking and attitude whenever I ask you a question. I liked you way better when you were awkward. And I'd have never given awkward Lori a wedgie because she'd never have done anything to deserve it...but you..."

Lori's head began to droop and her bottom lip began to quiver. She had no idea Lincoln felt that way. But then again, when had she stopped to think about how he felt as of late.

 _Face it Lori, you're nothing but a conceited, control freak who just can't stand when you're not the boss of everything._

Lori shook her head to rid herself of her brothers nagging voice in her mind.

"This isn't about you!" she told herself. "Just remember this isn't about you and stay focused!"

"Yeah well..." Lori said. "Maybe I'm not the same big sister I used to be. People change...I think you've proved that pretty well lately."

Lincoln grinned. "You better believe it."

"And..." Lori continued. "Even though I don't like everything about the change you're going through, I will try to let you make your own choices. But you need to understand that I will have my opinions, okay?"

"Okay, you can have your opinions." he said. "But that doesn't mean I need your approval. I'm not going to let it bother me if you don't like my new look or my new friends."

"Fine, whatever." Lori said. "Now could you keep an eye on the eggs for a minute while I text Dad? I need to check what time he's going to be home from work at the restaurant."

"Why do you need to know that?"

"Because I promised Leni we would go to the mall today. And I just want to let her know when we'll be going." She said as she pulled out her phone. "Do you want to come along? I literally know all of our sisters will."

"Hmmm, I dunno. There isn't really a whole lot at the mall that I like. Except the game store. And the comic store. Oh, and the arcade too."

"See? There's stuff for you to do while the rest of us shop around. Come on, it's going to be fun!" Lori encouraged.

"Maybe..." Lincoln said, taking a moment. "But then again, I can always just go with my friends some other time."

"Oh, come on Linky. Don't be like that. We hardly spend any time together anymore." Lori said. "I bet you'd say yes if 'awkward Lori' had been the one asking."

Lincoln sighed. "Okay. If it means that much to you, I guess I can tag along. How bad could it be?"

-Later-

"How bad could it be." Lincoln griped under his breath. "As if I didn't already know."

Lincoln trudged along behind his older sisters, carrying many bags in his hands. Most of them were Leni's, the perky blonde having gone through several stores already and selecting a few things from each of them. And on top of asking him to carry everything, she had also enlisted him as her little helper when she was picking out this and that, wanting to ask his opinions on how she'd look wearing whatever. That only made things more tedious since he had to sit through her trying on almost everything that caught her eyes.

"I really wish I had stayed at home." he grumbled.

"Hey, you didn't _have_ to carry any of that." Lori said as a matter of factly. "Leni asked and you said 'yes'."

"So I recall." Lincoln said. "But can I at least go to the arcade like you said I could?"

Lori tapped her finger on her chin. "Huh, I don't remember saying you could do that."

"Lori!"

"Oh, I'm just messing with you. Of course you can go and waste your time and money at the arcade." She said teasingly. "We're going to head to the food court, so you just meet us there so you can have something to eat before we head back home. Okay?"

"Sweet." he said. "I'll see you guys as soon as I'm out of tokens."

Lincoln ran through the mall, speeding past kids, teenagers, and parents pushing strollers to get to the arcade. He stood outside the entrance, taking in the flashing lights, shrills noises and laughter. Lincoln grinned widely.

"The best place in the mall!" Lincoln said.

"Next to Sports Supremacy." said a voice from behind him. "They sell all sorts of sports stuff there. Good selection too."

Lincoln turned to see Lynn standing behind him. "What are you doing here, Lynn?" He asked.

"The food court had a super long line." Lynn said. "So I thought I'd hang out with you to kill some time."

Lincoln shrugged. "Suit yourself." Lincoln said as he went into the arcade.

"C'mon Lincoln." she said as she followed him inside. "Don't be like that. When's the last time we spent some quality time together?"

"That baseball game." Lincoln said as he inserted a few dollars into a machine that gave him tokens. "You know, the one where you said I was bad luck."

Lynn's face fell at being reminded of both the loss and the insensitve way she had treated him. "Well..." she began. "Maybe I want to make up for it. Pick a game we can both play."

Lincoln looked around at the games, trying to make a decision. With so many different games, there were any number of things they could play together.

"The basketball game?" Lincoln thought. "Nah. That's to easy for Lynn. Same with air hockey and skeeball. It can't be anything too similar to a sport, she'd cream me and I'd never hear the end of it from her."

Lincoln's eyes stopped on a familiar game. A set of platforms with arrows on them connected to a flashing screen with speakers on it. Lincoln smiled.

"Dance Battle." he thought. "Perfect!"

He led Lynn over to the game and put some tokens into it. Next he selected Battle Mode so he and Lynn could compete against each other. Lynn stepped onto the other platform and waited while he looked through the list of songs.

"Is there anything you want to play?" he asked.

"Do you see any songs by Boys Will Be Boys on there?"

Lincoln turned to face her, quirking an eyebrow both in surprise and question. Lynn blushed at the way he was staring at her and crossed her arms, glaring at him.

"Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything." Lincoln said calmly. "And I'm not judging..."

"I said shut up!" Lynn repeated, her blush growing. "Just...pick anything! I don't care!"

Lincoln shrugged and selected a song by My Synthetic Passion for them to dance to. He readied himself as the first notes began to sound from the speakers. He'd need to really give it his all to keep up with Lynn. She was great at any physical activity, dancing included. This was going to be a challenge for him.

The first arrows came into view on the screen and Lincoln began to move his body to the music. He kept his eyes focused on his side, not missing a beat. However, he soon heard a growl of frustration from his right. Taking a moment to look over, he saw Lynn stomping on the panels as she tried to follow the steps. His eyes then swithced to her side of the screen. The words 'almost' and 'miss' appeared often. But mostly there was the one word he knew Lynn didn't like hearing when she was competing.

Boo.

"Stupid game!" Lynn muttered. "Just wait until I get the hang of this!"

"Wow." Lincoln thought. "I can't believe she's having a hard time. Maybe I should have picked an easier song for us."

Lincoln moved to the rhythm, stepping on the arrow pads easily. Lynn watched him as stared at the screen and stepped on the pads. She frowned at him.

"You've had a lot of practice with this game, haven't you?" Lynn said, watching his feet move.

"More than you know." Lincoln said.

He dropped to his knees and began pounding the pads with his fists and elbows. Lynn's jaw dropped at the display of skill.

"OK." she said as the music ended. "Now you're just showing off."

"This coming for you?" Lincoln asked. "So what?"

"So, I want a rematch." Lynn said.

"Fine by me." Lincoln said as he walked over to the machine and inserted more tokens.

He selected a new song which started to play over the speakers. Lynn watched the screen closely, making sure to step on the right pad as the arrows appeared onscreen. She started to smile as she got into the rhythm of the game, maving her arms and hips as she stepped on the pads.

"Hey." she said with a laugh. "This is actually pretty fun. You better look out Lincoln because this time I'm gonna..."

She looked over at her brother. He stood on his platform, looking at the screen but without moving his feet. He stared at the screen blankly, watching as the arrows passed thier symbols on the top of the screen.

"Hey." Lynn said. "What gives? Why aren't you playing?"

"I'm giving you a head start." he said.

Lynn nearly stumbled over her own feet at the admission. "A head start?" she repeated "What, so you don't think I can win without you having a handicap?"

"No." Lincoln said cockily. "Im gonna beat you whether I have a handicap or not. I'm just giving you the head start so you'll actually have some points on the board by the time the song is over."

"How about no?" Lynn said, stopping her dancing altogether. "I don't care if you're trying to be nice, I'm not taking charity in any kind of a competition. Even just a dance game. Let's find something else to play instead."

Lincoln shrugged. "Sure. How about you pick the game this time?"

"Don't mind if I do." Lynn said, taking a look around the arcade. Her eyes came across an air hockey table and she grinned at her brother. "Found one!"

She led him over and he put some tokens in. Then the two went to the opposite sides of the table and took their paddles. The puck was on Lynn's side and she set it onto the table. Lincoln waited for her to make her move, his eyes watching closely as she batted the puck back and forth on her side of the table. Then suddenly her hand darted over to her left and Lincoln watched for the puck as it moved, but found he was looking in the wrong area. By the time he realized his error, Lynn had already taken advantage of the opening and scored the first point.

"Score one for the Lynner." the athlete said, smirking at him as he retrieved the puck.

"Ok, that was a good move." Lincoln admitted. "But I'm not falling for a fake out like that again. And now it's my turn to score a goal."

"We'll see about that." Lynn replied with her usual confidence.

Just a few short minutes later, Lincoln found himself yet again staring at his older sister's arrogant smile. The game hadn't exactly been a close one, but he had held out fairly well in his opinion. But at least she wasn't gloating or doing her victory dance to rub the loss into his face. And on top of that, they had managed to attract a small crowd of other arcade goers as well.

"Hey, can I play you next?" a random boy asked Lynn.

"Only if you don't mind being the next to lose." Lynn answered.

Lincoln stepped aside and allowed the newcomer to take Lynn on in the next game. A few other kids all requested a chance to play the winner and Lincoln decided to just head out. This looked like it would take a little bit and he was getting a bit hungry. He'd head to the food court and find a bite to eat.

"Hey, Lynn. I'm going to meet up with our sisters, okay?" he said.

"Uh-huh. Sure." Lynn replied, focused more on the game than anything else.

Lincoln made his way out of the arcade and headed to the food court. He walked past the chattering people and teenagers holding sacks of clothesm only to pass by a familiar looking store. The store he had recently gotten his new clothes, Cold Subject. And sitting on the floor, right outside the entrance was a sour looking girl in a blue checkered skirt, looking down at her cell phone.

"Maggie?" Lincoln said.

She looked up from her cell phone. "Hey Lincoln." she said. "What's going on?"

"Just spending time with my sisters." Lincoln said. "What about you?"

"Just sitting here." she said. "I came here because I just needed some time alone to decompress before...you know...Wasn't expecting to see you until later"

"Can I be alone with you?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure." Maggie said patting the floor beside her.

Lincoln sat down next to Maggie, who continued fiddling with her cell phone quietly. Lincoln looked up at Maggie "So..." he said "How are you feeling?"

Maggie erupted into four sneezes, catching the gooey liquid running from her nose onto her sleeve. Lincoln cringed at the pitiful sight.

"That bad, huh?" Lincoln said.

Maggie reached into her pocket, pulled out a blue handkerchief and wiped her nose, which Lincoln noticed.

"Hey." he said. "You took my advice."

"Thanks for that by the way." she said. "It's so much more forgiving on my nose."

Maggie buried her head in her arms. "I..." she began. "I'm sorry that I'm so antsy but...I just...I'm really..."

"Scared?" Lincoln asked.

"I just don't get how you can handle it all." Maggie said as tears began to fall. "All the abuse you've been taking, all the stress. And now...tonight. The rest of us are really wound up, but you're not. You're the newest member, and you've been getting hurt the most. How are you not freaking out?"

Lincoln shrugged. "Maybe just because I know it's gonna be worth it." he said.

Maggie dabbed at her eyes. "I...hope so." she said.

Over at the Food Court, the Loud Sisters lay back in thier chairs after having torn into several plates of junk food. Lana emitted an enormous belch, which made Lola frown at her.

"C'mon Lana." she said. "Don't be so rude. We're in public."

"I was being polite." Lana said. "That's why I let it come out of the attic instead of the basement."

Lola rolled her eyes before noticing a plate with three slices of pizza on it. "Ooh, seconds." she said.

Lola reached for a slice but Lori swatted her hand away. "Don't even think about it." she said. "That's Lincoln's pizza."

"He's not gonna miss one slice." Lola said reaching for the pizza again.

"Do you want Lincoln to stick you under another table?" Luan asked.

Lola's face fell, and she pulled her hand away from the plate. "On second thought, I'm full." she said.

"Speaking of our bro, I haven't seen him since we all got our grub." Luna said. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He wanted to go to the arcade." Lori answered. "And I think Lynn went along with him. We're going to head out as soon as they get back."

Her phone beeped and she looked down to check the new text she had gotten. She looked back up and checked the table, taking a quick head count.

"Correction." she said. "Once Lucy gets back too. She just texted me from, wherever she is."

"Huh, I didn't even notice that she wasn't here." Lola said.

Lori got another text and after she read it she got up. She started to walk off, letting the others know that she'd be right back. Heading off past several stores she eventually came to a turn and saw Lucy standing by the corner. The pale girl turned to see her and gestured her closer. Lori opened her mouth to say something, but Lucy held one of her fingers up to her lips, signaling for the older girl to stay quiet. So instead, Lori simply stepped over to her side to see what the big deal was about.

Lucy peeked around the corner and then pointed at something. Lori peeked as well and gasped. Her brother was with that girl again. Not good. She had to get over there and get them away from each other. And unless she wanted Lincoln to make that difficult for her, she'd need to try and be nonchalant about it.

Taking a deep breath, she thought over how she could approach the situation. She just had to keep things short and simple. And to not let anything get to her. If Lincoln gave her attitude, she could wait until they were home to give him a piece of her mind for it.

"Lucy, go and join our sisters at the food court. Tell them to start heading to Vanzilla. I'll be there soon with Lincoln. Oh, and grab something for Lynn to eat too. She literally couldn't bother to wait for her turn in line. Have Leni give you the money for it."

The goth nodded and headed out. Lori then started to walk over towards Lincoln. He caught sight of her easily enough and she waved at him. Once she got close enough, she smiled at Maggie.

"Hi there. You must be Linky's new girlfriend. I'm his older sister, Lori. Sorry, but I literally need to take him away from you now. We have to get heading home."

"Already?" Lincoln asked. "I thought we had more time."

"Something came up." Lori stated simply. "Our sisters are heading to the van now, so we should be going. Say bye to your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." Lincoln whispered before giving Maggie a quick hug. "I'll see you tonight."

Lori almost reacted to that, but managed to stop herself just in time. She led Lincoln out of the mall and started to try and think of what she could do to keep him from leaving the house. Unfortunately she couldn't think of anything that she could get away with. Not with either of their parents home. The entire ride home, she kept trying to find something, but only drew blanks.

After a while, Vanzilla approached the Loud House. Standing on the front porch was thier father, nervously pacing back and forth. Once the run down vehicle made it into the driveway, Lynn Sr ran over to it and flung the drivers side door open.

"C'mon now." he said. "Everybody out. Move it, move it. Doubletime. I need to get going!"

The Loud Siblings filed out of Vanzilla in a hurry as thier father ushered them out, not even giving Lori the chance to take the keys from the ignition. Then Lynn Sr hopped into the drivers seat and drove away. They watched as the old junker sped down the street.

"Dad's really in a rush to get somewhere." Lincoln said .

"Uh..yeah" Lori said. "I told you that something came up."

When the Loud Kids went inside the house, Lincoln sped upstairs into his room. His sisters immediately crowded around the coffee table.

"Things are going well." Lori said "We got him up early and we kept him busy at the mall. Now all we have to do is make sure he doesn't leave to go to whatever he's planning to go to. Any ideas?"

"I could tell him I need his help as my assistant practicing for a birthday party tomorrow." Luan said. "Then I could tell him the party was rescheduled."

"I could challenge him to a race around the house." Lynn said. "He'd be too tired to leave."

"I could nail his door shut from the outside" Lana said.

"Seriously guys." Luna said. "Don't you think this is a little much?"

"Well, what do you plan to do?" Lori asked.

"I...well, I..." Luna began. "I was thinking that maybe we could...just let him leave?"

The siblings erupted in complaints. "ARE YOU KIDDING!?" Lori shouted. "You want to let him stay out and get hurt again?"

"No." Luna said. "I'm just know our brother better than anyone. Maybe we should just trust him. Maybe if we just leave well enough alone and..."

"All in favor of ignoring Luna say 'Aye'!" Lola said.

"Aye!" said all the other sisters.

Luna frowned and flopped down on the floor with her arms folded. As the Loud sisters chatted, a car horn sounded from outside. Rita came into the room, her purse on her shoulder and a book under her arm and headed to the door.

"Bye kids." she said heading towards the door. "I'm off to my book club. While your father and I are gone Lori's in charge. Be good."

"Don't worry, Mom. We will." Lori said just before her mother closed the door. Once the woman was gone she grinned to herself. "I'll make sure of that."

Lori hurried up the stairs and grabbed her whistle. She then stepped out into the hallway and blew into it for a good few seconds. All of her younger siblings rushed to the upstairs hallway and lined up from oldest to youngest, Lincoln being the last to join.

"What's going on? Did Mom go somewhere to?" he asked Lynn.

Lori blew her whistle again and stood in front of him. "No talking until I am done with reviewing our schedule for the evening!"

"Seriously?" Lincoln said. "Come on, Lori. I don't see why you have to..."

"You don't have to." Lori cut in. "I'm in charge until Mom or Dad get home. So I'm the only one who needs to see, know or worry about anything. The rest of you just need to stay in line and follow orders. Do I make myself clear, Private?"

Lincoln smirked. "Sorry. Can't hear you. You're breaking up."

"Don't get smart with me, mister!" Lori ordered.

"I don't want to get smart with you. Seems like I'd be stuck doing all the work."

Lori's jaw dropped and all of the other sisters 'oohed' at Lincoln's comeback. A stern glare from their eldest sister got them back to standing at attention again quickly enough. Then Lori thrust her arm out and pointed to the end of the hallway.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

Lincoln shrugged "Sure, you were gonna make us all do that anyway. So why not?"

He went into his room and shut the door. Lori sighed and 'dismissed' her sisters. In a way, she was grateful he had sassed her like that. At least now she could keep an eye on him. Hopefully until long after whatever he was going to was done with.

Inside of the small room, Lincoln took out his phone and started to text Maggie.

Lincoln: So, get this. I just got sent to my room.

Maggie: R U joking? Do not tell me you can't make it!

Lincoln: Trust me. I'm the man with the plan, remember? I will definitely make it, just make sure you and your mom are there on time.

He went to set down his phone, but then he started to text her again.

Lincoln: And don't worry. I know it's scary and maybe we're out of our league. But we are going to go in, no hesitation, and give it all we've got. We are ready for this!

Maggie: I hope so. Just try not to get hurt again, okay?

Lincoln: No promises. But even if I do, I won't let it stop me. We are going to dominate!

 _There's only one chapter left. And with my new job I might not have as much time to write._  
 _So I'm just gonna ask that you bear with us as we finish this ride._  
 _Plz review and don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225_


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10)**

Lincoln cracked open the door to his room and peeked into the hallway. To his chagrin, he found Lynn standing guard at his door. She turned to look at him and then crossed her arms, standing squarely in his way.

"Trying to go somewhere, little bro?" she asked.

"Need to use the bathroom." Lincoln said. "I am allowed out for that, right?"

"Nope. Here, you can use this." Lynn said, handing him an empty water bottle.

"Well I don't have to pee." he told her.

"Got that covered too. Here's a bucket and some t.p."

Lynn held out the said items and Lincoln took them, scowling as he shut his door again. That idea didn't work. Of course he could always try to make a run for it, but that's probably why Lynn was stationed by his door. He'd need another strategy to get out of his room.

Or...he could just get right out of the house.

Lincoln went over to the poster on the wall across from his door and pulled it up. The pull cord was still there. He had a way out after all and Lynn wouldn't have a clue.

Thank you Lisa.

Grabbing the ring, Lincoln pulled the cord and heard the rubber slide inflating outside the window. He climbed up and squeezed out the small opening, taking in the fresh air and the freedom. Adjusting himself so he was on the slide feet first, he went down and immediately got ready to make a run for it once he was at the bottom.

"Nice try Lori." Lincoln said as he sped off towards the sidewalk.

He didn't even make it through the front yard. Lori had been waiting outside on the front porch and saw him quickly enough. The next thing Lincoln knew, she had caught up to him, grabbed him and began to carry him back inside and up to his room again.

"Nice try Lincoln."

Lori gave Lynn a look once she got to the top of the staircase. She set Lincoln down and gripped his shoulders with her hands.

"You should literally try harder." Lori said. "He almost got away."

Lynn grinned sheepishly and opened Lincoln's door. Lori escorted Lincoln back into his room and made him sit on his bed.

"You can't make me stay." he said defiantly.

"Oh yes I can." Lori said back.

"I'd like to see you try."

"If you say so. I'll be right back."

Lori stepped out of the room and went into the one just to the left. She returned a moment later with a sleeping Lily in her arms. Using her free hand, she shoved him onto his back and put Lily on top of him. The sleeping baby yawned and snuggled against her brother, her tiny hand grabbing his collar.

Lincoln frowned at his sister and mouthed a single word to her.

"CHEATER"

"Don't blame me." Lori whispered. "You brought this on yourself with all your lies and attitude. Plus the sneaking around and dodging our questions. Since you won't listen to us when we try to keep you safe, we have to find other ways to do it. This is for your own good, Lincoln."

Lori shut the door just enough so someone could look through the gap to see inside, making Lily quietly stir at the clicking sound of the doorknob. Lincoln looked down at the baby, struggling to frown at her, but couldn't find it in himself to be angry at her. This wasn't her doing. He grabbed a pillow and held it over his face so he could grumble into it without waking Lily.

"Great." he thought. "Just great."

"Inkin." Lily muttered in her sleep her grip on his collar tightening a bit.

Lincoln rubbed Lily's back making her loosen her grip, but not release it.

He looked over at his clock, it was approaching 3:45. He still had just over and hour before Maggie and her mom were coming for him. He still had time to find a way out.

"Time to break out the emergency stash." Lincoln thought.

He slowly reached underneath his bed and pulled out a cardboard box. On top of which were the words "In Case of Sisters Open this". He opened the box to reveal several types of chocolate bars. He removed one and examined the wrapping.

"Super Spicy Chocolate Chili Pepper Bark." He read. "Perfect."

-Outside his room-

Lynn sat outside his door, spinning a basketball on her fingertip. She whistled as she switched hands, rolled the ball across her shoulders, and bounced the ball back and forth bewteen her elbows and and wrists. The basketball had her entire focus until she heard a sound.

CRNCH-CRCKLE SHFF CRNCH-CRCKLE

Lynn turned to the door and listened carefully. "That sounds like...foil and plastic wrap." she thought. "Does he have chocolate in there?!"

Almost immediately the door swung open and a remote controlled airplane flew out of Lincoln's room. Dangling from the bottom of it was an unwrapped chocolate bar. The chili peppers in it were so strong that Lynn could smell them through the chocolate. Her tongue dangled out of her mouth and drool poured from the corners.

"Spicy chocolate!?" she said. "COME TO MAMA!"

The airplane flew down the hall and down the stairs with Lynn in hot pursuit. Lincoln crept out of his room, sleeping Lily in one hand and the controller for the airplane in the other.

"Worked like a charm." he thought.

Lincoln carefully crept down the steps, keeping a watchful eye out for any sisters who could be around. He flew the plane into the kitchen and then had it dive and go through the doggy door. Lynn dove after it, barely able to fit through. He knew he didn't have much time now. She'd get hold of the chocolate bar soon enough, scarf it down and bask for a moment in the sweet bliss of post-chocolate-consumption. But then she could very well remember she had left her post. By that time he needed to be out the door and as far from the house as possible.

Moving quickly and quietly, Lincoln made his way to the front door. He paused just as he reached it though. Lori had been outside before, what reason did he have to believe she wasn't still out there? And because he had led Lynn into the kitchen, he had inadvertently trapped himself. Not to mention he still had to find a place to set Lily down. In his hurry to lead Lynn away he hadn't thought of what to do with his baby sister.

He stepped over to the couch and used his free hand to set up a place for Lily. She'd be fine there for a little bit and hopefully wouldn't be seen by anyone until he was long gone. Then again, maybe it would be better if someone _did_. He could find a place to duck down and hide while his sisters went nuts trying to find him. If he was lucky they'd rush outside to find him first and that's when he'd make a break for it.

Lincoln slowly set Lily down and stepped away, taking a quick look around to make sure the coast was clear. But as he turned to leave, Lily suddenly whined and rolled over on the couch. She started to cry a little and Lincoln had to scoop her back up and hush her before she would cry any louder.

"What are you doing in here?"

The sound of his sister's voice made him freeze momentarily. He turned to find Luna standing not too far behind him. The rocker looked around the room and then back at him. She stepped closer and leaned over to whisper.

"Dude, are you trying to sneak out?"

"Luna, please." Lincoln whispered back. "I know it's a lot to ask, but just let me go. I have to...be somewhere soon."

He saw his older sister hesitate and then she shook her head. "Sorry bro, but it wouldn't make a difference if I did. Lori is on the front porch and she's got the twins patrolling the back yard. You can get out, but you won't get out without them noticing."

"I can deal with...did you say the twins are in the back yard?"

Luna nodded. "Yup. They're in Lola's jeep. Why?"

"Dang it, I need to get back up to my room!"

Lincoln dashed towards the stairs, no longer caring if he woke Lily. She stirred and whined, but he kept going with Luna following him. By the time he got to the top and into the hall, the front door slammed open and Lori stormed inside.

 _ **"LYNN!"**_

Lynn came through the back door into the kitchen, licking chocolate and bits of chili pepper off her fingers. She looked up at Lori, who's face was red and teeth were clenched.

"What's your problem?" she asked.

"My problem is a sister who can't do her job!" Lori raged as she grabbed Lynn's arm and led her upstairs "It's a good thing Lola texted me that you were outside. But so help me Lynn, if Lincoln got out I'm going to..."

The two sisters reached the top of the stairs to see Luna standing up against Lincoln's door, strumming her acoustic guitar.

"Luna, what are you doing up here?" Lori asked. "I told you to guard the living room."

"I saw Lynn chasing after a chocolate bar on a toy airplane." Luna said. "So I figured I better stop Lincoln from leaving."

Lori sighed in relief. "Well at least one of you is good at doing your job" she said.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Lynn said. "Blame the chocolate, not me!"

"This is twice now that you've screwed up." Lori said. "We can't have this happen again or he might get out."

Lori turned to Luna. "Guard his door." she said. "And Lynn, you take Luna's place guarding the living room. With the twins in the backyard and me in the front yard, there's no way he can get out."

Lincoln poked his head out from behind his door to glare at his sisters. He pressed a finger to his lips and "shushed" them all, before pointing to the sleeping baby he was holding and creeping back into his room.

"Don't worry sis." Luna said. "He's not going anywhere with me around."

"Good." Lori said. "We'll be downstairs if you need us."

Lori took Lynn back downstairs, leaving Luna alone in the hallway. Luna poked her head into Lincoln's room.

"Thanks for the save." Lincoln said. "I don't think that trick will work on Lynn a second time."

"It's not really a save, bro." Luna said. "I have to do my job, Lincoln. I can't let you leave the house."

Lincoln held up a candy bar in shiny blue and white striped wrapping . "Would a Rock Star Choco Bar change your mind?"

Luna's eyes widened at the sight of her favorite candy bar. Her mouth watered at the thought of milk chocolate with crunchy almonds and coconut. And candy filling that made a popping, crackling noise when it hit her tongue. Though sorely tempted, Luna shook her head.

"No way, Jose." she said. "Not gonna happen."

"Are you sure?" Lincoln asked, peeling the wrapper open and waving the exposed chocolate in front of her.

"Stop tempting me, bro!" Luna said. "I don't like this either! But...I'm starting to agree with Lori. You've been acting different. And I don't want to say that it's a bad thing, but you keep pushing us away and keeping secrets from us. I'm worried and it's mostly because I have no idea what the heck is going on!"

Lincoln sighed and sat down. "I'm sorry, Luna. I know that you haven't been on my case like Lori has been. And you were supportive of my new image too. So I really don't like that you're worried about me. But please, please believe me when I say that it isn't anything to worry about."

"Then what's with the secrecy, dude? Why can't you tell us?"

"I...I can't tell you. I promised Maggie. She doesn't want anyone to know."

"Then I definitely can't let you go anywhere. Sorry bro."

Luna went to shut the door and Lincoln put his foot in the way to stop it. She looked at him and saw there was conflict in his eyes. He pulled out his phone and gave Luna a pleading look.

"Wait. Give me a minute and...and maybe I can see if I can tell you."

"Really?" Luna asked. "You aren't just pulling my chain, right?"

"No, it's not a trick. I'm texting Maggie now. But no promises."

He started to text Maggie. A reply came within seconds and he started to text back. After a few more back and forth messages, Lincoln looked up at Luna and gave her a nod. Luna beamed and checked the hallway before shutting herself inside of Lincoln's room with him and Lily.

"Okay, before I tell you anything, there are two conditions." Lincoln said.

"What are they?" Luna asked.

"One, you need to help distract Lori so I can leave."

Luna nodded. "Sure. What's number two?"

"You're coming with me. As promised, I'll tell you everything, but only on the way."

"No problem. But now I have a condition." Luna said.

"Sure, name it." Lincoln said.

"I still want that chocolate bar."

Lincoln held back a laugh and handed over the candy to her. As she began to eat it he whispered to her, going over their escape plan as quickly as possible. Time was running short and he wanted to get going ASAP.

A minute later, the two had left his room and went down the stairs. Luna spotted Lynn lounging on the couch, watching a basketball game. She signaled Lincoln with a thumbs up and then both she and him returned up to the stairs. Luan took Lincoln to her and Luan's bedroom. The two stopped in their tracks however as they saw Luan inside. Luna tried to take Lincoln elsewhere, but he didn't move. He only held out Lily for her to take. She did so, but silently asked 'why'?

Lincoln smiled and pointed to Luan. Her back was currently turned to them. And more importantly, she was in her mime attire. He could work with that.

Lincoln tiptoed into the room and held up his hands in front of him. He looked like he was holding something, or rather, he was miming that he was holding something. Something cylindrical. Then he held that something up to his mouth and blew silently and forcefully. Suddenly, Luan tensed up as if something had struck her. Then she wobbled and slumped down to the floor, unconscious.

"Okay, what the heck was that?" Luna whispered.

"Mime tranquilizing blow dart." Lincoln explained.

"But...how did..." Luna started before she just shook her head. "You know what? Nevermind. I probably wouldn't understand anyway. So now what, bro?"

"Easy." Lincoln said. "I take Lily and hide here while you go back and 'guard me' in my room. I'll text Bobby to text Lori that he wants to videochat with her. Then when she comes up to get her tablet, she finds the chocolates for her and while she's gorging on them, we get out of here. First, you go and put these someplace Lori will find them."

Lincoln held out a box of assorted chocolates. Luna took it and looked at it for a moment before narrowing her eyes at her brother.

"Hang on. How come Lori gets a whole box of them?" she asked, a touch of envy in her voice.

"Because she needs a lot to feed her ego." Lincoln said.

Luna shrugged. "Makes sense. Okay, you hide and I'll sneak these into Lori's room. Then you text Bobby while I get back to your door."

Lincoln looked over at Luan's unconscious form. "I think I can hang here for a bit." he said. "Something tell me she won't be getting up for a while."

Luna handed Lily to Lincoln before she left her room, kicking the door closed, and went over to Lori and Leni's room. She knocked on the door with one hand, using the other to hide the box of chocolates behind her back. Leni poked her head out of the door.

"Hey sis." Luna said. "Can you do me a favor and guard Lincoln's door while I hit the can?"

"Sure" Leni said with a nod.

Leni made her way down the hall, letting Luna toss the box of chocolates onto Lori's bed. "Don't open the door." Luna called out to Leni. "Lily's sleeping in there. You don't want to wake her up."

"Don't worry." Leni said. "I won't."

Lincoln heard the bathroom door shut from Luna and Luan's room. He sat back on Luna's amp, holding the quietly snoring Lily on his shoulder. After a few moments, he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time.

"C'mon." he thought. "Any minute now. Any minute."

He heard the bathroom door open again. "Thanks again Leni." said Luna's voice.

"No problem." said Leni's voice.

After Lincoln heard the sound of a door closing, Luna swerved back into her room.

"Sorry about the wait." Luna said. "Had too much root beer at the mall."

"No problem." he said, holding up his phone. "We've still got enough time. Now let's take care of Lori. I'm going to text Bobby to invite her to videochat with him. Knowing Lori, she won't hesitate to do so, and that's when she should see the present we left for her."

Lincoln carefully crept out of the room and back down the hall, texting with his free hand while he went. By the time he got back into his room and Luna was 'standing guard' again, his plan was already in motion. A few seconds later the front door opened and Lori entered, rushing up the stairs and then towards her room, taking a moment to look over at Luna.

"How's it going, Luna? Is he behaving?" she asked.

Luna shrugged. "He's been pretty quiet in there. But I peek in every minute or two to make sure he hasn't gone missing."

Luna slowly opened the door and Lori saw Lincoln on his bed, Lily's head resting on his chest. Lori smiled and gave Luna a thumbs up as she backed down the hallway.

"Keep up the good work. You shouldn't have to worry about looking after him for much longer. I can have Luan take over for you in a little bit. I'll just give her a heads up."

"It's cool." Luna said, trying not to panic as she saw Lori reaching to knock on her door. "I can keep an eye on Linc for the rest of the night if you need me to. He's been pretty mellow with me watching over him. Don't want to rock the boat, right?"

"Good idea." Lori said, turning away from Luna and Luan's bedroom. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boyfriend who wants to see my beautiful face."

Lori entered her room and went to grab her tablet. But as she was retrieving it, she spied the box of chocolates sitting on her bed. She stared at it for a moment and then turned to face Leni who was currently sewing a new dress.

"Where did those come from?" Lori asked.

Leni looked up from her work. "I don't know. They were just, like, there. But they have your name on them, so I didn't touch them."

"They do?" Lori asked, taking a step closer and picking up the box to look at it. "They _do_! Well, no complaints here. I'll just have one for now. Or maybe two, no, three..."

Lori opened the box and started to look over the many choices available. And while she was drooling over them, Luna and Lincoln made use of the opportunity they had created. The two swiftly went down to the front door, sneaking past Lynn who was still on the couch and watching her game. Luna was carrying a diaper bag and Lincoln had Lily in the baby harness he often used when taking her out. Not wasting even a moment, they opened to door and made a mad dash to the street corner where Maggie and her mother were supposed to pick them up.

"Okay, so Maggie said they'd come to pick us up early. They should be here any time now." Lincoln said. "Thanks again, Luna. You have no idea how important this is for me."

"Hey, you said that you'd let me in on something you've been keeping secret. It's the least I could do. I got a lot of questions for you, little bro."

"And I plan on answering them all on the way. Let's just hope that Lori or one of our other sisters hasn't noticed we're gone yet."

Meanwhile, back in the Loud House, Lisa was busily organizing her notecards for an upcoming lecture that she'd be presenting. She allowed herself a small smile at the completion of her work and elected to celebrate with a juice box. The young scientist went to leave her room and upon opening the door she immediately took notice of something out of place. Lincoln's bedroom door was slightly ajar, and there wasn't anyone standing guard in front of it.

"Oh dear." Lisa said. "That does not look good."

She rushed over to Lincoln's door, only to find the room empty. Lisa's heart sank into the soles of her feet. She ran over to her siblings rooms and peeked inside. But she only found Luan lying on the ground, and Lucy sitting on her bed reading a book.

"He's escaped!" Lisa thought. "And seeing as Luna is no longer guarding his room, she must've gone with him! I must inform Lori right away!"

Lisa ran back down the hall as fast as her short legs could take her, over to Lori's room. She began hopping up and down, trying to reach the keypad on the side of the door, but to no avail. Looking around to make sure no one was in the hall to see her, Lisa flailed her arms around and stomped her feet petulantly in a tantrum suited for the four year old she was.

"Curse my diminutive stature!" Lisa said as she calmed herself down. "Well. I suppose it's time to go to Plan B."

Lisa ran back to her room, reached under her desk for a microphone connected to a PA system she had recently installed in the house, and spoke into it.

"Attention Loud Family." Lisa said. "I am requesting your immediate presence in the hallway. We've got a 2319! I repeat we've got a 2319!"

Lisa came out of her room, and was joined by her sisters in a matter of seconds. Lynn came up the stairs, a panicked look in her eyes.

"A 2319?!" Lynn said. "What's that? A tornado?"

Lucy poked her head out of her room. "A swarm of bees?" she asked. "Or maybe we've run out of dog food for Charles?"

Leni came out of her room. "The seat was left up and someone fell in?" she asked.

"No." Lisa said. "That's a 2391. Our male sibling has gone missing!"

"WHAT!?" screamed Lori as she came out into the hall, bits of chocolate on her face. "How the heck did he get out?! Luna was supposed to guarding his door!"

"Luna has gone missing as well." Lisa said. "I can only assume that she chose to accompany her to wherever it was he went."

Lori's face went pale. She sped past Lisa into her room, and ran up to Lily's crib. Only to find it empty. Lori's hands trembled on the edge of the crib as sweat gathered on her forehead.

"She's gone!" Lori said as a sense of dread began to settle in the pit of her stomach. "He took Lily with him too!"

"I beg your pardon?" Lisa said. "Perhaps my auditory receptors are deceiving my brain. But did you just say he had Lily? For what possible reason would he have her in the first place?"

"I gave her to him to try and keep him from leaving!" Lori said. "I literally can' t believe he took off with her!"

Lisa humphed and crossed her arms. "Well perhaps you should have known better than to endanger our youngest sibling by entrusting her to our increasingly rebellious male sibling!"

Lori growled and glared at Lisa. "Oh, as if _you_ could have seen this coming, little miss smartypants!"

"Well as a matter of fact..." Lisa began, but then she suddenly lost her unabashed superiority. Her lower lip trembled slightly and ther corners of her eyes began to moisten. "I...I would never have anticipated that Lincoln would even consider doing such a thing. I know that he hasn't been showing the most exemplary behavior as of late. And I'm willing to overlook many of the things he's done, especially due to how well he's dealt with Lola..."

"Excuse you?" Lola cut in, narrowing her eyes at Lisa.

"...but the fact that he could take Lily along with him, putting her at risk, is not something I can easily process."

Lori scooped Lisa up and started to rub the upset four year old's back soothingly. "It's okay. We're going to get them back. Not we'd need to if _somebody_ hand't let Lincoln get past her, again."

"Hey!" Lynn said. "This isn't entirely on me! You left your post! And from the looks of it, it was for a snack break too."

"Ugh, we can literally play the blame game later! Right now we need to find Lincoln, Luna and Lily! Does anyone have any ideas?"

Lisa sniffed and looked up at Lori. "I took the liberty to work on a new method of tracking Lincoln after the failure with my drone. As long as he has his cell phone with him and it remains powered on, I can triangulate his position using local cellular towers."

"That's great, Lisa!" Lori said. "How long would you need?"

"Five to ten minutes at most."

"Alright, you get to it and the rest of us will be down waiting in Van...zilla isn't here. Dad took it. Dang it, now what do we do?"

"What about the bus?" Lana suggested.

"It's Sunday." Lucy said. "The bus doesn't run today. We could try hitchhiking."

"EW! And risk ending up in some weirdo's car? No thank you." Lola said. "Let's just get a ride from Ooh-burr."

"Sure, if you want to pay for it." Lynn said. "Why don't we just call and ask the McBrides? They have a car big enough to hold all of us."

"Good idea, Lynn!" Lori said, pulling out her phone. "I'll just call him...and someone else should ask him. He may not stay conscious enough for me to finish."

Lynn held out her hand and Lori gave her phone to the younger teen. She called Clyde and waited for him to pick up, tapping her foot impatiently the entire time.

"Hey Clyde, it's Lynn." she said as he finally answered. "Listen, I know this is really out of left field and all, but do you think that you could do a HUGE favor for us? We need a ride somewhere and we need to go ASAP. Lori would really appreciate it."

For a moment Lynn stood there and then she flinched. "Uh...Clyde? You there? Clyde? Clydesdale?" She looked over at her sisters. "I think he passed out."

Lori sighed. "Give me that." she said, taking back her phone. "Clyde, this is Lori. I literally need your help in the worst way right now. Please, please, pretty please come and help me out? It would mean soooo much to me!"

A moment later Lori smiled a little as she heard an excited chatter coming from the other end of the call. She refrained from saying anything else though as she worried it may cause Clyde to faint again. But at least she knew that the devoted boy would heed her call and soon one of his dads would be at their house to drive them to find their missing siblings.

"Okay, everyone get your butts downstairs and be ready to leave the minute Mr. McBride is here!" she ordered, getting nods in response as her sisters all did as she said. However, it was at this moment that Lori noticed something. "Where the heck is Luan?"

Lori stormed over to the bedroom across the hall from her own and opened the door. Inside she saw Luan slumped over on the floor, her posterior up in the air. The blonde frowned and stepped over to her sister, giving her a gentle kick in the keister. The sudden strike jolted Luan and the girl scrambled onto her feet, reaching back to rub the sore spot Lori had made.

"Have you been sleeping this whole time?" Lori asked, her brow furrowed.

Luan shrugged and pointed to her rear end, rubbing at the sore spot. "Oh, come on." Lori said. "I didn't kick you that hard."

Luan shook her head. She pointed at the spot again, grabbed a pen off the floor, and held it near her rear end. But Lori swatted the utensil out of her hand.

"We don't have time for this!" Lori shouted. "We have to go! Lincoln got out and he's got Lily with him!"

Luan's eyes widened. "WHAT!?" she shouted. "Wasn't someone supposed to be guarding his door!?"

"Luna was." Lori said flatly. "But we think he convinced her to go with him! The McBride's are going to be here any minute to give us a ride. The rest of our sisters are waiting downstairs for us. Now hurry up, we have to get going!"

Luan ran into her closet and shut the door clattered noisily as a rustling and rumbling sound came from behind it. After a few moments, Luan jumped out wearing a clown outfit. She looked down at herself embarassedly.

"Whoops!" she said. "Wrong outfit. This is no time to clown around."

"Really, Luan?!" Lori said. "Right now?!"

"That one was an accident." Luan said before jumping back into her closet and shutting the door behind her.

The closet door shook and clattered again for a few moments. Luan quickly jumped out of her closet, smoothing down her skirt and straightening the flower on her shirt.

"OK, I'm ready." she said. "Let's get going."

Lori and Luan ran down the stairs to join thier sisters in the living room. They waited for about ten minutes until a bright red SUV drove up to the house. The Loud Sisters filed out of the house and scrambled to fit into the back of the McBride's car, settling in around Howard as Clyde was in the front seat.

"Sorry for the wait." Harold said from the drivers seat. "We had to make sure Clyde had everything he needed to stay...stable."

Clyde turned his head to face the backseat. His glasses were off, a blindfold was tied firmly around his eyes, and plugs were set firmly in his nose and ears.

"Yup." he said nasally. "I'b all zet ub here."

"Uhhh, maybe it would be better if I sit in the front, Mr. McBride." Lori said. "I need to help direct you anyway. Lisa, have you gotten Lincoln's position?"

"Affirmative." Lisa said, holding out her tablet. "And I also have it locked onto our position as well so the GPS can provide instructions on the fastest route to his location."

Lori took Lisa's tablet and took Clyde's place up front while Leni helped him into the back. The seventeen year old looked at the screen and frowned at what she saw.

"Dang it, he isn't moving. He must already be wherever he was going. I just hope that we aren't too late."

"Too late for what?" Harold asked. "You haven't exactly told us what's going on yet, Lori."

"Lincoln is in trouble and about to do something he will literally regret if we don't get there right away! Now we need you to turn around and then take the second left."

"If you say so." Harold said. "But I still have some questions I'd like to have answered."

Mr. McBride backed into the driveway and then turned left to head the opposite way. As Lori had told him, he made a left turn after a couple blocks and then continued to follow her instructions from there. Lori's eyes never left the tablet screen, a nervous feeling filling her gut as they got closer and closer to their destination. Eventually they wound up in a large parking lot outside of a large building. Harold went to look for a place to park, but the sisters were far too eager to wait. He instead slowed down so they could file out of his vehicle, Lori leading the way.

"Okay, now we just need to find Lincoln and drag his sorry butt home." Lori said to her siblings. "Luna too. She is in _SO_ much trouble for helping him and dragging Lily along with them!"

Lori kept a watchful eye out as they proceded through the parking lot, all the while peeking at the tablet to make sure she was heading closer to their brother. Now that they had gotten closer, she could zoom in on the map on screen. He was obviously inside of the building, but she had no idea just where exactly. But that didn't matter. They were so close she could practically feel it. Nothing was going to stop her now. No obstacles to block her way and no distractions to divert her attenti...

"Dad?" Lori blurted out suddenly.

The eight Loud sisters looked over to see thier father, standing up against Vanzilla with a cell phone in his hand. He looked up from the mobile device in surprise.

"Girls?" he said, pocketing his phone. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home right now?"

Lori's heart sank into the soles of her feet. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as beads of sweat gathered on her forehead. She couldn't let her father know that she had lost track of three of her siblings, she would be grounded until graduating college if she was lucky. Lynn looked over at the building.

"Oh, I see." he said. "You're here for the show too. Well I can't blame you for wanting to see it, so I won't tell your mother about...hang on...Where's Lily? And Luna and Lincoln?"

"Uh...well." Lori said glancing down at the tablet and seeing a small flashing light. "They're already inside."

"Well then we better join them before the show starts." Lynn said. "C'mon girls."

Lynn Sr walked into the building, his daughters following close behind. There was a large amount of chatter from the people who filled the main entryway. Their father approached a woman sitting at a table near a set of double doors.

"Nine tickets please." he said.

The woman grabbed a large roll of tickets, separated nine of the from the roll and handed them to Lynn Sr as he paid for them. He handed the tickets to his daughters.

"It's a good thing we got here early." Lynn Sr said. "The last thing we'd want is to have to wait in line."

"I know, right?" Lori said with a large, nervous, insincere smile.

Lynn led his daughters into a large room with a stage. There were several chairs set around the room, with people scrambling to get a seat. Lori stepped back into the small crowd of her younger siblings.

"You guys keep an eye out for Luna, Lily, and Lincoln." Lori said. "I'm gonna slip out for a minute."

"What for?" Lola asked.

"I'm gonna tell dad I have to use the bathroom." Lori said. "And I'm gonna look for them. They're in the building somewhere, and in a place this big I doubt we're going to find them anytime soon."

"Dudes!" shouted a voice "Over here"!

The Loud Family looked over to see Luna, sitting near the front of the stage with Lily in her arms. She waved at her family as they rushed over. Lori ground her teeth together as she ran over to her sister. She snatched Lily out of Luna's arms and glowered at the girl.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" Lori asked through her tightly clenched teeth.

"I was kicking back and getting ready for the show, sis." Luna said. "So pull up a chair and get ready, because this is gonna ROCK!"

-Backstage-

In a large open space in the back, several groups of kids chatted amongst themselves. There was a group of teenage boys all wearing purple bandanna around thier necks talking to a group of girls in spandex unitards. Another group of kids, both boys and girls, were all texting rapidly. And in one corner of the room, were a group of unhappy looking tweens. All of them had thick circles of eyeliner under thier eyes, were wearing sad emoji necklaces, and wore black t-shirts with the word SAD printed on the front in blue, with a small frowning face in space above the bar in the letter A.

"What's taking him so long?" Stacy asked, anxiously flicking her tongue over the piercing in her lip.

"He just needed to change into his shirt" Maggie said, dabbing at her runny nose with her hankie. "Just relax, Stacy. We're not onstage yet."

A blonde emo girl with a purple beanie on her head snorted, trying to suppress a laugh. Maggie turned to look at her, narrowing her eyes.

"Something funny Natalie?" she asked.

"You're telling her to relax?" Natalie said. "You're more nervous than any of us!"

Maggie sneezed into the cloth. "Thanks for reminding me." she said glumly.

After a few minutes, Lincoln came into the room and ran over to the group of kids dressed the same way he was. He straightened his emoji necklace.

"How do I look?" Lincoln asked.

"Unhappy." said Dennis.

"Frustrated." Ricky added.

"And almost totally defeated by life." Mona said.

"Long story short." Maggie said. "You look perfect."

"Almost perfect." Stacy said, pulling out an eyeliner pencil. "You just need some dark circles under your eyes to complete the look."

Stacy walked up to Lincoln, preparing to put the eyeliner on. Only for Lincoln to take the pencil from her with a smirk.

"I can do my own makeup, thank you very much." Lincoln said.

As he applied the eyeliner, a young man with a clipboard approached them. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he needed.

"Are you guys SAD?" he asked. "As in the group, not the emotion?"

"Technically we're both." Lincoln said gaining chuckles from the other kids in his group.

"Well, we've had a slight change in plans." he said. "I know you were scheduled third to perform, but the Huron Hazards dropped out of the listing yesterday and Vitamin-D has a member running late so they've asked to be pulled out until he arrives. So your group will be going first."

"Wh-what?!" Maggie squeaked out before suddenly going into a nasty sneezing fit.

"Uh, is she okay?" the young man with the clipboard asked.

"She's fine." Ricky said. "She just needs a minute and then we'll be ready to go."

"Alright, your group is starting in five. Good luck."

He left and Maggie tried to get ahold of herself. She took out her hankie and covered her face, attempting to blow her nose between the sneezes. After a moment, Lincoln stepped over and put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Maggie regained control and took a deep breath, although it did little to calm her nerves.

"Five minutes? That's way too soon!"

"Well by now it's less than that. Four, maybe only three and a half." Dennis said.

"Not. Helping." Maggie said, groaning afterwards while hiding her face in her hands. "I can't do this. Not in front of all of those people!"

"Oh, no. No you don't" Stacy said. "You were the one who came up with the idea for us to do this in the first place. You dragged the kid into this and had him go through heck just to get us here. You are not chickening out last minute!"

"It's going to be okay." Lincoln said. "Trust me, I know it's a little scary. This is my first time too. But you know what I'm going to do when I go out there?"

"What?" Maggie asked.

"I'm going to just do what I've been doing day after day with you guys. Because I know we can do it, and we're going to do great!"

"Easier said than done." Ricky said. "Maybe Mags has a point. This is too ambitious for us right now."

"Too late for that." Lincoln said. "We're up first and we're going out there whether we're ready or not. Just think of it this way, the sooner we go, the sooner we finish. No worries, no regrets."

Lincoln held out his hand in front of him. He looked to the others and found none of them making a move to join him.

"Yeah, sorry kiddo. None of that 'peppy group cheer' stuff." Mona said. "But we get what you're doing. I'm with you on the whole lets get out there and get it over with idea. I haven't cared what people think of me before, and I'm not starting now. Let them judge all they want. I won't lose sleep over it."

"SAD, you guys are on in two minutes, please take your position." the young man with the clipboard called.

-Back in the audience-

"Okay, so let me get this straight, Luna." Lori said. "What you're telling us is..."

"That there's nothing to worry about? That our little bro isn't in any trouble? That you were being paranoid? Yeah, that's pretty much it."

 _"And now, we'd like to introduce a group doing their first ever performance."_ came a voice from some overhead speakers. _"Please give a warm welcome to SAD!"_

The curtain on the stage lifted up and the sisters, minus Luna, all gasped. Their brother, along with his new friends were all standing up there, side by side, with their heads hanging down. The sound of dark techno music began to play and the lights in the room dimmed, leaving only the stage illuminated.

Up on the stage, the group listened to the first notes of the music, ready to take their cue. Maggie started to feel her nose itch and struggled to contain the sneeze that she felt coming. She was only able to do so because she wasn't facing the audience directly. Otherwise, she would definitely have made a fool of herself. Lincoln picked up on her still being anxious and whispered to her just as they were almost about to start.

"Just remember. It's like how you slayed zombies while wearing my gaming goggles."

Maggie bit down on her lower lip, once again fighting the building urge to sneeze. She nodded her head at Lincoln. "Just relax and follow my lead." he said.

Lincoln stepped forward out of the group, gliding on his locked his fingers behind his head, moved his hips from side to side, and then moved them in a circle. The hip swivel became a spin on the tips of his toes. He pointed to Maggie and motioned for her to come closer. She mimicked Lincoln, giding on her feet, swinging her hips, and spinning on her toes. The two of them moved in perfect sync with each other as Maggie thought to herself.

"You're slaying the undead." she thought. "Just focus on killing zombies."

Lincoln moonwalked away from the still dancing Maggie to another part of the stage. Lincoln waved his arms back and forth to the music, pumping his shoulders up and down to the beat. He pointed at Stacy, who stepped out of the line, mimicking his arm and shoulder movements as she walked over to where Lincoln was, resulting in a few whistles and shouts from the crowd.

"So far so good." Lincoln thought.

Lincoln began doing the robot. Stiffly moving his arms, legs, and upper body to the beat for a few moments, before pointing to Mona. Who stepped out of line, walked over to Lincoln and copied his movements. She shoot a smirk at her younger teammate, who quickly returned the gesture.

Lincoln dropped to his knees, used his hands and feet to turn himself over, and slid across the floor in different directions. After a few moments he stood up and stomped his foot, signaling Dennis to step forward and take his place. He started to copy Lincoln's floorwork, before turning on his back and beginning to breakdance in earnest.

The crowd began to cheer a bit louder, save for the Loud Siblings. The girls watched in utter disbelief. Struck silent by the truth behind Lincoln's new group of friends. All the girls except Luna and Lily, who clapped happily as she watched her brother dance.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about." Luna said smugly.

The sound of sobbing caught the girls attention. The looked over at their father, who had tears streaming down his face. He wiped them on his sleeve as Luna spoke.

"Whoa, pops" she said. "What's with those raindrops falling from your eyes?"

"Just look at him!" Lynn Sr said "That's my boy up there! My son is following in my footsteps, following in my dance steps. I...I'm just so darned proud"

"I...I literally can't believe it." Lori said. " This whole time, he's just been getting ready for this? All of his secrets were because he was doing dance practice?!"

"Yeah, dude, that's pretty much it." Luna said. "And he had his reasons for keeping it on the down low. Now shush! I don't want to miss anything!"

Back up on the stage, Lincoln had led Ricky into a series of popping and locking dance moves. Once the older boy had gotten started, Lincoln popped and locked over towards Natalie before beginning to swing his arms while nodding his head, stomping his feet and puffing out his chest. Natalie mimicked his krumping after a moment and then Lincoln worked his way back over to the center of his group, coming to a stop as he reached his position. He ceased all movement and stood still for a moment before he suddenly swung his arms out to the sides and stomped his right foot.

The other six dancers all froze and the music came to a stop. Lincoln counted to three in his head, nice and slowly. Then the music returned with a sudden burst and all seven members of SAD began to dance simultaneously, earning a roaring cheer from the audience. For the most part, the dance was almost exactly the same as the ones Lincoln had played on the Dance Battle machine time and time again. Swift leg movements moving forward and back, left and right, with their feet striking the ground firmly as they twisted their bodies with the movements. However, there were some differences which Lincoln had thought up to work into the routine.

"Time for all that blood and sweat to pay off." he thought. "Time for the finish."

Lincoln began gliding on the tips of his toes again. He looked over at Dennis and pointed to him again, signaling him to start gliding as well. The both moved cleanly, expertly maneuvering around thier teammates, until they reached opposite ends of the stage. Lincoln stared at Dennis, who stared back with the same intense look in his eyes.

"Hope this works." he thought.

Dennis locked his fingers together,held them down in front of him, and nodded.

"Here goes nothing." Lincoln thought.

Lincoln ran over to Dennis at full speed, jumping up and planting his foot in his hand. At the moment, Dennis lifted him up, tossing him in the air where he turned a backflip. His sisters gasped in utter shock, their mouths hanging open as thier brother defied gravity. They all covered their eyes, not wanting to see him crash. Save for Luna who watched proudly as Lincoln landed on his feet, his crewmates falling on the ground at the moment of his impact.

The crowd roared with enthusiasm, standing up and applauding the young group. Lincoln walked over to his teammates helping them stand up as they walked over to the edge of the stage, locked hands, and took a bow, making the crowd roar even looked out at the audience, not only seeing Luna and Lily, but all his sisters and his father. Luna and Lynn Sr. clapped wildly, the latter appearing to have tears in his eyes, while his other sisters simply stared wide eyed and open mouthed.

He shot them a wink before heading backstage with his group. The announcer headed back on stage with a microphone in his hand.

"WOW!" he said. "And to think this is their first performance! Let's give it up for SAD ladies and gentlemen!"

The croud cheered and clapped loudly as SAD were offstage, having wrapped each other in a group hug. Lincoln squirmed a bit as he struggled to escape the hug.

"Guys." he rasped out. "I'm happy too. But can you let me go, I can't breathe."

"We did it!" Stacy said. "We actually did it!"

Dennis gave Lincoln a playful noogie. "And it's all because of you." he said. "You're awesome, you know that?"

"C'mon guys." Lincoln said. "You weren't that bad before I joined up. You'd have done fine without..."

Lincoln stopped talking the moment Maggie had planted her lips on his cheek. She pulled away to look at him. "We'd never have gotten this far without your help." she said. "It's all on you Lincoln."

He held his hand to his cheek, blushing lightly. "Wow." he said.

Maggie characteristic frown reappeared on her face. "Don't read to much into that kiss." she said. "I do that with all my close friends."

"That's true." Dennis said.

"She's right." Mona chimed in.

The announcer came back over to the group. "That was a really tight performance!" he said. "A great way to start the show. Good job, to all of you!"

As he turned to walk away, Lincoln grabbed his hand "Could you do me a favor?" he asked "There a group girls sitting with thier dad near the blondes, Four brunettes, one girl with black hair and a baby. Could you invite them backstage"

"Sure thing, just keep out of the way of the other groups."

A couple minutes later, Lincoln stood before his sisters. His arms were crossed and he looked cross with them. And aside of Luna and Lily, he found them looking at him with similar gazes. Lori stepped in front of the rest, placing her hands onto her hips and leaning forward to give him her best 'big sister glare'.

"Did you like our performace?" Lincoln asked

"You were awesome out there, bro" Luna said stepping forward to ruffle his hair "You were really smokin'...seriously you were moving so fast that I think I saw your shoes smoking"

Lincoln turned to his other sisters "What about you guys?" Lincoln asked "What did you think?"

His sisters simply stared at him for what seemed like hours. Lori was the first to find her voice "Dancing" she said "All this time, you've been dancing?"

Lincoln nodded his head as Maggie stepped forward to face the group of girls "Maybe I should explain" she said "About two months ago my friends and I put together this dance crew as a hobby. We'd get together, we'd watch dance videos and we'd try to copy them. It was just for fun at first, but when we signed up for this dance expo we had to start practicing more. I dunno if it was the pressure, or just that we were bad dancers, but we started to feel like we were getting worse. So one day we went to Gus Games and Grub to decompress from it all and..."

Maggie put her hand on the top of Lincoln's head "We found him"

Dennis stepped up "We saw this kid shredding it on the Dance Battle video game" he said "It was crazy the way he moved. It's like dancing just came naturally to him. So we started watching him to try and learn his moves. And it helped a bit, but we knew if we were going to get better fast, we needed to take a bigger step"

"So last week" Mona said "We waited for him to show up at Gus Games and Grub, and we asked him if he would join our group. He wasn't too into the idea at first...until he saw our dancing."

Lincoln shuddered "Yeah" he said as he recalled the video Maggie had shown him "No offense guys. but you were..."

He shuddered again "We know" Ricky said "Asking you to join up was a lifesaver. It was more than just dance, Lincoln really knew how to get us organized to clean up our routines"

"I know my way around managing a group of people" Lincoln said with a shrug and turning to his sisters "Speaking of whom..."

Lori pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath to steady herself "Alright, so let's start with the elephant in the room."she said

Leni gasped. "They have an elephant back here?! Where? I love elephants!"

"Uh, is she for real right now?" Mona asked.

"Ha!" Dennis snorted out. "I get it, she's the one who's the comedian. Right little man?"

"She wishes." Luan said.

"Focus!" Lori spat. "Lincoln. I don't like that you disobeyed me and snuck out. I really don't like it at all. But before we talk about that, I just need to know something. Why, oh why, didn't you _just tell us what you were doing in the first place_?! Do you have any idea how much you worried us? You literally couldn't just say you were off to practice dancing?"

"No." Lincoln replied calmly. "Because, first of all, it wasn't any of your business. More importantly, I promised Maggie that I wouldn't tell anyone. Not even my family."

"It's true." Maggie cut in. "I wanted to keep it secret until we made our debut today. The only people who knew besides us were my parents. I wasn't trying to cause any trouble. I just really wanted to keep it in the dark until we were ready."

"To help keep the pressure off." Lincoln explained. "No offense, but if any of you knew about it, I wouldn't be surprised if word got out. Some of you aren't so good at keeping secrest." he said, glancing at Lola and Leni in particular.

"Well excuse me for loving gossip!" Lola defended.

"My point exactly." Lincoln said. "And then there's the little fact that you guys would have butted in and tried to help. Which would have been more of an annoyance than anything else."

"HEY!" the sisters said as one.

"You know what? Fine, whatever." Lori said. "But now I need to ask, just how you kept getting hurt if you were only practicing dance with them?"

"Well..." Lincoln began, rubbing the back of his neck. "First, there were problems with spacing and timing. Since all thier routines were made for six people, adding a seventh threw things off. Everybody got hurt somehow at some point. Second, they were't exactly the most coordinated dancers at first. Saying they were clumsy is putting it mildly."

"That isn't true." Ricky cut in.

"I believe you're exact words were, and I quote: 'We need your help with our routine. We stink on ice.' "

"You don't have to say it in front of them!" Maggie said, a small tint of redness on her cheeks.

"Sorry, but it's the truth. And for what it's worth, you guys are doing amazing now!" Lincoln said to his emo friends before looking back at his sisters. "So, yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. They asked me to help and to keep it secret."

"Hold on a sec." Lynn said. "So is that why I saw all of those pictures of Lincoln on your phone? Because you were learning his moves?"

"Pictures on my phone?" Maggie repeated before letting out an angry gasp. "I knew it!"

"Well I didn't!" Lincoln said. "When did you take them? I don't remember that during any of our practice sessions."

"Um, well it wasn't anything I did while you helped us." Maggie admitted. "That was before you joined. "

"Wow." Lori said. "Way to be creepy."

"I wasn't being creepy!" Maggie retorted.

"Let me check with an expert." Lori said. "Hey Lucy, is it creepy?"

"Very creepy." Lucy answered.

"Thank you."

"Well I'm sorry if it comes off that way, Lincoln." Maggie said. "But I was just trying to learn from you."

Lincoln shrugged. "I'm Ok with that." he said. "No offense, but with all the hesitating you were doing you'd need all the help you could get."

"None taken." Maggie said.

"I mean seriously." Lincoln went on. "It's like she was allergic to moving her hips. I couldn't get her to shake her booty if I put her in an earthquake. It got so bad that I had to lend her my gaming goggles to show her how."

Maggie frowned and blushed as the other crewmates laughed a bit. Lucy stepped forward, gaining her brother's attention.

"So what's with your clothes then?" Lucy asked. "If all you did was dance, then why were you dressing so differently?"

"They all dress like this to dance." Lincoln said. "I had to dress like them to fit their crew's theme."

"Probably why you had to listen to their music too, right?" Luna asked.

Lincoln nodded at her. "But what about the grafitti?" Lola asked. "We saw you spray paint your name on the side of that warehouse!"

Stacy stepped forward. "That's where we practice our routines." she said. "My dad owns those warehouses and he let us use one. He also said that we could decorate it anyway we wanted. We already tagged the inside before Lincoln joined so..."

The Loud Sisters looked around at each other, then over at the group of kids Lincoln had joined. "OK. OK." Lori said. "So maybe you weren't up to no good. And maybe we did judge your new friends to fast and too harshly, but there's still something I don't understand..."

"What's that?" Lincoln asked.

"Why were you in such a bad mood all week?" Lori asked "I mean, giving me a wedgie, sticking Lola under a table, the threats and the attitude. It's not like you at all!"

"In my defense." Lincoln said. "I've been really tired and really sore all week. And on top of that, I have to put up with ten meddling sisters who just can't wait to bother me when I want to be left alone. You try being in a good mood after that."

His sisters all shared the same look of irritation. "We were only trying to look out for you, Lincoln." Luan said. "Can't you see how this affects us? Our only brother is keeping secrets and lashing out at us. You can't blame us for being worried."

"I can blame you for refusing to trust me!" Lincoln retorted. "I wasn't doing anything wrong, but you wouldn't leave it alone! You guys could've wrecked everything for us! I asked you to drop it, I told you I didn't want to talk about it. But you didn't care! All you cared about was meddling in my life like you always do!"

"That's not true and you know it." Lori said. "We just wanted to protect you. With all the weird things going on with you, we just wanted to be sure that you were safe."

Lincoln's eyes narrowed. "Oh really?" he said. "Then why didn't you just tell mom and dad?"

Lori opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. She looked around at her younger sisters, who all looked unsure of how to answer. It seemed like a perfect solution, tell their parents about Lincoln. If they couldn't get an answer from Lincoln, surely their parents could. So why didn't anyone think to do that?

"I'll tell you why." Lincoln said. "Because you wanted to meddle in my life. Why do you feel like you deserve to know about the parts of my life that don't concern you? Lori, when you're on a date with Bobby, do you think I deserve to know what goes on between you two?"

"Well..." Lori struggled to answer. "I...I guess if...I mean..."

"What about you Lola?" he asked. "When you're in a pageant where do you think I should be? In the audience watching, or backstage telling you what to do and how to do it?"

'Um.." Lola said. "I don't actually need..."

"Yeah, sure." Lincoln interrupted. "And what about you, Lisa? How would you feel if I was in your room, breathing down your back while you work?"

"Well, in all honesty, I would prefer that you refrained from such a thing."

"I thought so. Face it, you guys. You wouldn't want me to meddle in your affairs. So don't meddle in mine! You should've trusted me from the beginning!"

"Lincoln. Enough." Maggie said, stepping forward and putting a hand onto his shoulder. "Don't you think you should cut your sisters a little slack?"

"Say what now?" Lincoln asked.

"This was partly my fault." Maggie said calmly. "You were keeping a secret for me this entire time. They didn't exactly know what was going on, no matter how many times they asked you. Can you really blame them for trying to find out?"

"Why are you defending them?" Lincoln asked "You're the one who wanted to keep it secret."

"I know, I know." Maggie said. "And I stand by the choice. But I'm just saying that you need to look at it from their point of view."

"You say you want them to trust you, right?" Ricky said, stepping up."Well trust works two ways. You want to be trusted, then you need to trust them too."

"But I couldn't trust them with this." Lincoln said. "They're always butting into my life, telling me they're trying to help, but they end up making things worse!"

"Don't you think you might be taking this a bit more personally than you should?" Mona said. "You can't just write them off as always being wrong to try and step in. They're your sisters and they clearly care a lot about you."

"Just think of it this way." Maggie said. "What if one of your little sisters was sneaking off and you had no idea what she was up to? Imagine how you'd feel not knowing what's going on."

Lincoln looked towards his five younger sisters. The thought of any single one of them just up and going somewhere without telling him had never crossed his mind. He tried to do as Maggie said and put himself in that situation where he knew one of them was up to something and he was left in the dark. Having no idea what was going on, wondering when they'd come home. Then he took into account that he had come home with scrapes, bruises, even a black eye. If he saw any of them like that...

"Oh, jeez. I...I...I've been..."

"A total bonehead?" Lynn offered.

"A meanie?" Lola piped up.

"Lynn, Lola. Drop it." Lori ordered. "Lincoln, look. I know that we've been on your case a lot this past week. But we've been worried about you. Sure we may not have shown it that well, but you need to understand that when you didn't tell us what was going on, it only made us worry more. And it literally frustrated us."

"I get that" Lincoln said "And I didn't mean to make you worry. But what was I going to do? I promised Maggie that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"We know." Leni said. "And we're sorry for butting in. We should've listened to Luna and gave you space."

"And we're sorry for not trusting you." Lynn said. "But with all the changes you've been going through, with your clothes and your attitude...we were really scared."

"And not the good kind of scared." Lucy said. "The bad kind of scared. The "where you think you might be losing your only brother" kind of scared."

"And we don't want to lose our only brother." Lola and Lana said together.

Lincoln looked up at his sisters. "I'm sorry for scaring you all." Lincoln said. "I promise won't act like this anymore. Since I'm not hiding it anymore, you can count on it."

"We'll accept that apology on one condition." Lisa said as her voice began to crack. "Promise us that your teenage years won't be like this. We can't handle this sort of ordeal all over again."

Lincoln shrugged. "I can't see the future." he said. "So I'm not making any promises about that."

"And hanging out with us has already gotten him into the scene." Mona said. "He'll probably be wearing stuff like this when he gets older."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Lucy muttered.

"Well we can't make and promises about not trying to step in when we think something is wrong." Lori said. "We care about you Lincoln. You all tried to look out for me when you thought Bobby was cheating on me. And you can't expect us not to want to do the same for you. From now on, if you ask us to trust you, then we will. But just remember that we only butt in because we care. And we'll make sure to dial it back from now on. Right girls?"

"Right!" said the Loud sisters.

Lincoln smiled warmly. A smile that his sisters hadn't seen in a week. But that smile slowly turned into a frown beneath a pair of narrowed eyes.

"What?" Lori asked.

"Are you crossing your fingers behind your backs?" he asked.

"No." most of the sisters chorused.

"Lola is!" Lana said, pointing to her twin.

"What are you talking about, little dudette?" Luna asked. "I don't see any crossed fingers in those pink gloves."

"She crosses her toes!" Lana said.

"Lola..." Lincoln said warningly, crossing his arms.

"Alright, alright. But if I dial it back, you can't stick me under tables or hang me from coat hooks anymore!"

Lincoln's face softened and he held out his arms, inviting her in for a hug. "Okay, you've got a deal."

Lola went in for the hug, followed moments later by the rest of the Loud sisters. The SAD crew watched the heartwarming scene, Ricky pointing his finger into his open mouth and making a gagging noise. This was swiftly rewarded by an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Maggie.

"Let them have their sappy moment, you dork." she whispered, pulling out her hankie to wipe her ruined make up from her face. "Dang it, stupid tears!"

The group hug ended, Lynn lingering for a moment and squeezing her brother tight.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about before." she whispered to him. "That whole thing with the bat? I wouldn't ever really do that. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know." he whispered back. "Just don't pull it again, okay?"

"Promise." she said, separating from him. "But I gotta ask. What kind of name is SAD for your group? You realize how lame that sounds, don't you?"

"It's an acronym." Lincoln explained. "It means 'Shut-up And Dance'."

"Oh. Okay, that's not so lame after all."

"Anyway, we should be getting back to our seats." Lori said. "Dad is going to wonder where we all went. We'll see you after the show, Lincoln."

"Hold up. I can come with you." Lincoln said, turning to look at the SAD crew. "You guys don't mind, right?"

"Do what you want." Maggie said. "But don't forget we're meeting up tomorrow to start practicing for our next routine."

Lincoln nodded. "You got it. See you later!" he said with a wave. He then followed his sisters out into the audience, Lori falling into step beside him.

"So, you're going to be out tomorrow after school from what I heard?" she said.

"Uh-huh, I won't be home later than I was any time before."

"Do you want a ride there?" Lori offered.

"No thanks." Lincoln said. "Maggie's mom can give me a ride to and from. Maggie and I are going out for Flippee's before practice.

"So...the two of you are dating after all?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lincoln stated firmly.

"Yeah, sure. You said that about Ronnie Anne too." Lori countered. "But whatever. Just be more careful, okay?"

"Wait." Lynn said. "Does this mean you're gonna keep dressing like Lucy after all?"

"What are you talking about?" Lincoln asked. "I'm dressed emo. Lucy is a goth. There's a difference"

"THANK YOU!" Lucy exclaimed in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, gaining attention of many people nearby in their seats. In the next moment her normally pale cheeks were pink and she was very grateful for her skill in moving both quickly and silently as she found her seat again. "That was embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it, Lucy." Lincoln said. "The next group is about to perform, so everyone's attention is going to be focused on them."

"Thank darkness for that." Lucy said. "By the way, you looked good up there. It was...fun to watch."

"Hey, thanks for that, Luce." Lincoln said. "That means a lot to me. I'm just curious as to what the others will do in their routines. Who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a new idea."

The sound of the announcer's voice caught their attention as the next group was introduced. The group of teenage boys with purple bandana's around their necks took the stage and the room was soon filled with hip hop music as they began to dance for the audience. Lincoln watched earnestly, intent on seeing if he could learn something new from them. However, he soon found himself far too absorbed in how fun it was to do anything other than just watch in awe. Same with the next group, and the next, and the next, straight through until the show was over.

-Later that night-

Soloson6 has logged on.

SeldomlySmiles13 has logged on.

Soloson6: Hey Maggie.

SeldomlySmiles13: Hey Lincoln.

Soloson6: Today was fun

SeldomlySmiles13: That's one way to think about it. I still can't believe we actually did it. I'm glad it's over, but also kind of disappointed.

Soloson6: You had fun up there and now you want to go and do it again.

SeldomlySmiles13: meh, maybe. But not anytime soon. it's still a lot to stand in front of so many people.

Nottagoth has logged on.

Nottagoth: Yo

Soloson6: hi Dennis

Nottagoth: good, both of you are on. I got something to share with you. I found us a new member. if you're okay with him joining

SeldomlySmiles13: really? that was fast.

Nottagoth: he's my cousin. he was watching us today and really liked it. I mentioned we were thinking of getting an eight member and he asked. he's online now, mind if he joins us?

SeldomlySmiles13: no, have him join

Nottagoth: okay, just a sec

Needs2cry has joined the session.

Needs2cry: hey

Soloson6: hi, what's up?

SeldomlySmiles13: hey

Needs2cry: saw you guys perform. it was good. didn't think my cousin could be that coordinated. guy has two left feet.

Nottagoth: Shut up!

Soloson6: lol. I can vouch for that. So, you want to join us?

Needs2cry: if you'll let me

SeldomlySmiles13: sure, why not? you any good at dancing?

Needs2cry: kinda. not as good as you guys are though

Soloson6: no worries. we have practice tomorrow after school at four. can you make it?

Needs2cry: sure, I go to school in Hazeltucky, so I may or may not be late. that cool?

SeldomlySmiles13: we practice until seven or eight, depending on what we need to do. drop by whenever.

Needs2cry: okay. I'll c u then I guess

Soloson6: C u then. Looking forward to having you as part of the gang.

-The next day-

School had ended and Vanzilla rolled up to the driveway of the Loud Loud Siblings ran into the house, scattering in different directions upon entering. Some doing homework, some going to thier room. Lori made her way upstairs and headed to the bathroom.

"Excuse me, Lori." Lisa said.

Lori looked down at at her younger sister, who had a clipboard in her tiny hands. Lori shuddered under the look in Lisa's eye.

"Oh no." Lori said. "We've been over this, Lisa. I don't want to be in your poop study!"

"I'm sorry to hassle you over this, elder sister." Lisa said. "But my current data files on you are sorely in need of an update."

Lori looked over to see Lincoln on the way to his room. He made a motion, as if he were pressing buttons on a cell phone, held it to his ear, and shook his head as if he we're saying "No."

"No means 'No', Lisa." Lori said.

"Fine then." Lisa said. "If you won't allow me into the bathroom with you, then perhaps I could convice you to refrain from flushing so that I may..."

"Sorry." Lori said reaching for the bathroom doorknob. "Can't hear you...you're breaking up."

Lincoln shot his big sister a thumbs up just before the shut the door behind her. Lori chuckled to herself from behind the door.

"I guess that really does work to end a conversation." she thought.

Lincoln slipped into his room and began changing clothes. He removed his orange shirt, and reached for a black one. He stopped for just a moment, to admire his sad emoji necklace in the mirror. He had worn it to school under his shirt that day. He may have been back to his old style of dress again, but wearing that necklace still made him feel like part of the gang.

He ran his finger over the shiny, blue surface before reaching for a black shirt with the phrase "You think you know me" written on the front. Then he switched out his blue jeans for a black pair and made his way out of his room.

"I'm heading out now." he called as he made his way to the stairs. "I'll be back sometime after eight, okay?"

"You sure that you don't want a ride home?" Lori offered, exiting the bathroom. "It literally isn't a big deal for me to come and get you."

"It's fine. But thanks anyway."

Lori shrugged. "Okay, if you're sure. Just make sure to let us know if you're running late for any reason."

Lincoln nodded. "I will. Later!"

He turned to head for the door, but was suddenly stopped. Lori's arms grabbed him and pulled him in for a tight hug.

"Oh no you don't. Not with out one of these!" she said, squeezing him. "Have fun and be careful. No more coming home with bruises or anything like that."

"I'll try, but no promises." he said. "And Lori?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you wash your hands?"

"Excuse me?" Lori asked defensively. "Of course I washed them? Who do you think I am? Lana?"

"Just checking." Lincoln said, slipping out of her grasp. "Anyway, I should be going. I'll see you in a while. And don't worry!"

He ran off, Lori waving to him as he went through the door. She then went into her room and flopped onto her bed, pulling out her phone to text anyone/everyone she knew. After a moment, a thought crossed her mind.

"Sorry Lincoln." She thought. "But I'm going to break my promise and butt in, just a little bit."

She typed something into her phone and then smiled to herself as she hit 'send'.

My baby brother is off to dance with his friends. #BustAMove

Lucy: sigh. I really had hoped he wasn't serious about staying with them. at least tell me he didn't dress like they do this time.

Luna: So what if he did, little dudette? that look works for him!

Leni: Totes! Orange may be his favorite color, but black really works better on him!

Lynn: Forget what he's wearing. I can't wait to see what dance moves he works on next! Am I the only one who wants to learn a little from him?

Luna: Nope, I'm down for learning some of his sweet moves.

Lana: Me too!

Lola: Count me in!

Leni: I would so love to do that! We should ask him when he gets home!

Luan: Hey, maybe he can show the pets some moves too! Charles and Cliff could use them, they both have two left feet!

Luan: Get it?

Lynn: If I say yes, will you stop?

Lisa: aksdjhgfae

Lori: Say what now?

Lisa: Apologies. Lily was attempting to play with my phone. I too would also like to participate in learning our male siblings sick moves

Lori smiled again, continuing to read the new comments as they popped up on her phone's screen.

"Nope." she said to herself. "Nothing to worry about at all."

And so it ends  
Twisteddarkness225 and I want to thank you all for coming along for the ride  
Until the next collab


End file.
